


Dancing Flamingos

by youwereamazing



Category: Dreamcatcher (Korea Band), 방탄소년단 | Bangtan Boys | BTS
Genre: Changing POVs, Don't trust anyone, Dreams, Everyone's gay, Gen, Nightmares, Supernatural AU - Freeform, Torture, everyone who's tagged survives, everyone's lying, everyone's really out of character, most of the dreams are based on MVs, some of the characters die, the chapters are all really short???, the rest of bts is running around in the story somewhere but they're not that important, this is a piece of shit btw
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-20
Updated: 2018-09-02
Packaged: 2019-05-26 02:44:09
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 47
Words: 70,726
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14991044
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/youwereamazing/pseuds/youwereamazing
Summary: “What is the point in joining a dream-sharing group if you don’t even want to talk about your dreams?”Siyeon desperately wants to get rid of her nightmares and so she ends up following the advice of a dream specialist: she starts a dream-sharing group without having any intention on talking about her real nightmares.  But the group turns out to be way more than just a group of strangers lying to each other about their dreams...A story about dreaming, some magical abilities connected to dreaming and seven people that are all lying to each other.





	1. Siyeon

**Author's Note:**

> Obviously, this is all made up in my head and has nothing to do with reality. I love Dreamcatcher and I like BTS a lot . Btw I don't really know that much about BTS they are just the only other group I know all the members of. Sorry if there are any mistakes! Enjoy my piece of shit.

The first card the fortune teller turned around was the Fool.  
Siyeon didn’t know whether that was a good or bad thing. For her, tarot had always been just a bunch of bullshit. Everything was kept very vague so that it could be interpreted in literally any direction. A good fortune teller just knew how to read people and how to tell them what they wanted to hear. Which was a talent, but that didn't change the fact the tarot itself was pretty useless and dumb.  
The fortune teller didn`t say a word while spreading the cards. When he finished that, he silently stared at Siyeon for a minute, before considering the cards carefully. “This is interesting”, he said finally.  
Siyeon took a look at the cards herself. There were ten of them laid out in front of her. A card with a skeleton on it caught her eye first. Death. Even though she knew that these were nothing more than some random cards, she felt a cold wave of fear rise inside of her. The other cards just left Siyeon clueless, but she saw a lot of swords and a lot of moons. That couldn’t be a good thing, right?  
She wouldn't have come if it wasn't for pinkprincess0517. She had been gaming online with her for over two years now and considered her a friend, even though they barely knew anything about each other. But Siyeon knew that pinkprincess0517 was charismatic and a fucking great general. During their games, she could always rely on her and trust her decisions. That's why Siyeon decided to redefine the boundaries of their friendship and trust her with something personal. She had expected a few comforting words or a bit of sympathy. She hadn't expected her advice to be “Go get your cards read”.  
“This is very interesting”, the fortune teller said, looking deep into her eyes. “You are at the start of a long and painful journey. Full of fear and… pain.”  
This was the moment Siyeon decided that she would never trust pinkprincess0517 again. Why did she pay actual money for this nonsense? It just sounded like the man memorized a book about tarot and now tried really hard to sound like a professional.  
“Do you see this card? It`s the Fool. He represents your current situation. And right now, you are still full of hope. You have no idea what will come. You should be careful. Your problem… This card stands for your problem. It´s the Nine of Swords. This card… this card is about fear and pain. You are afraid. You are hurt. And then it gets really interesting. By any chance, did you have any weird dreams lately?”  
The last sentence caught Siyeon`s attention.  
“Oh, this is why you are here! You are here because of your dreams. Nightmares even, I suppose.” The fortune teller nodded slowly. “I get it now. You want to get rid of your nightmares, am I right?”  
Either Siyeon`s poker face was way worse than she thought or the man was just pretty good at reading people.  
“You are withdrawing yourself from people. This is not the solution to your problems. Stop avoiding people. Start putting yourself out there. You are the only one standing in your way to happiness. To achieve this happiness, change has to come. Changes may seem scary, but I promise you, most of the time, they are worth it. The outcome of your situation is a bit unclear…” He gestured at a card that showed the moon. “Anything could be possible.”  
“That`s it?”, Siyeon asked after a bit of silence.  
“That`s it. If you want, you can buy one of my handmade dreamcatchers. They can be really helpful with nightmares.”  
Siyeon didn`t bother to respond to this. She just put the money on the table and left the little shop.  
\-------  
pinkprincess0517 [08:13 pm]: How did the reading go?  
inlovewithamonster [09:01 pm]: It was a waste of money and time  
pinkprincess0517 [09:12 pm]: I am sorry to hear that <3  
pinkprincess0517 [09:13 pm]: Readings have really helped me through some of the hardest times of my life  
inlovewithamonster [09:16 pm]: Maybe it was just a bad fortune teller  
pinkprincess0517 [09:17 pm]: Possible. There too much of those in the world.  
pinkprincess0517 [09:18 pm]: What exactly did they tell you?  
inlovewithamonster [09:20 pm]: Something about how change is important on my way to happiness and that I am the one standing in my own way.  
pinkprincess0517 [09:21 pm]: I mean, are they wrong?  
inlovewithamonster [09:22 pm]: …  
inlovewithamonster [09:22 pm]: not really helping me with my problem  
\-------  
Over the next few weeks, Siyeon grew more and more desperate of getting rid of her nightmares. They were destroying her, tearing her apart from the inside.  
The internet was full of advice, but none of it worked for her. Even after she had a regular sleeping pattern, sat in the park for hours every day, did yoga, stopped drinking coffee and wrote lists about things she was grateful for every day, her nightmares still haunted her. So she went to see a psychiatrist. They had talked a lot about her feelings and her childhood, but after three sessions, she had been transferred to an expert for dreams called Kim Namjoon. Now Siyeon had to see him twice a week, but she didn`t really believe that he could help her.  
“Can you tell me what happens in your dreams?” The expert, who was a man not much older than Siyeon, smiled at her. This was their fourth session, the fourth time, Kim Namjoon had asked her that question. She wondered how many sessions it would take until he would give up.  
“Siyeon, it`s nearly impossible for me to help you with your dreams if I have no idea what those dreams are about. Just give me something to work with.” He seemed tired today. But he always did. Just like Siyeon herself.  
“Most of the times, I just wake up and forget what I dreamed. I just have these weird feelings for the rest of day”, she told him. She had already told him this several times, because it was the truth and because it was better than telling him about the dreams she remembered. “This morning, I woke up smelling blood, but there was no blood. I checked my whole apartment. There was no blood.”  
“Did you ever have major injuries yourself or witnessed somebody bleeding a lot?” Namjoon asked.  
“No. I can`t remember anything in my life involving blood except… you know, my period.”  
“Maybe that`s what it`s about, “Namjoon suggested.  
“You think I dreamed about blood because I have problems with my period?” Siyeon didn’t really see why she would have a dream about her period.  
“Do you know those dreams where you have to pee and then you wake up and you really have to pee? Maybe it`s kind of like that. Maybe you have PMS right now and the dream is a sign of your body that your period is coming soon, “ he explained.  
“No, that`s not possible. I just had my period last week.”  
Namjoon seemed kind of disappointed that his theory turned out to be wrong. “Okay, if you don`t want to tell me more about your dreams, this is what we are gonna do now. I want you to come to the sleep labs so I can monitor you while sleeping. We will continue our meetings twice a week and maybe someday, you will be able to tell me about them. And I also think it would be a good idea if you joined a dream-sharing group.”  
“A what?”  
“A dream-sharing group. I think it`s important that you talk to someone about your dreams and a dream-sharing group is perfect for that. It is a small circle of people that trust each other and talk about their dreams. You don`t have to tell them anything if you don`t want to, you can just listen to the experience of others. I myself am the dream leader of one of those groups and if you want, you can come to one of our meetings to see what it`s like. You can`t permanently join our group, as we are full, but coming as a guest once is completely fine, if you want to.”  
This sounded horrible. Talking about her dreams with a group of strangers? Why would she want to do that? She didn`t even keep a dream journal because she hated her dreams and just wanted to forget them forever.  
“Come on, give it a try. Come to one of our meetings and if you hate it, I will never bring it up again. And if you like it, I will help you find a circle of your own.”  
Suddenly, Siyeon was reminded of the fortune teller, saying that she should put herself out there and stop avoiding people. And she was also just really desperate to get rid of these nightmares, she was practically willing to try anything. She could just see what it’s like and maybe there would even be people with similar problems as her.  
“Okay.”  
\---------  
Two days later, Siyeon was following Namjoon into a completely white room. Three young men were already sitting in the middle of the room and another one was dancing in front of them.  
“We are seven dreamers in total”, Namjoon had explained to her earlier. “Even though I love them all, they will be the death of me one day. We call ourselves BTS.”  
“That`s Jung Hoseok, “he told her, nodding to the dancer. “We are all pretty into dancing and singing, you know? Maybe we should have formed a boy band instead of a dream-sharing group.”  
“If you are all that talented, you would have been pretty successful.” Siyeon was actually impressed be the moves of Hoseok. She herself had always wanted to be part of a girl group (or a professional gamer), but she ended up working in a video game store instead.  
The other members finally noticed Namjoon and Siyeon. “This is Siyeon. I told you about her, “ Namjoon introduced her to the group.  
She waved a bit. “I am Lee Siyeon.”  
The members started saying their names, but Siyeon doubted that she would be able to remember all of them.  
“We are still waiting for two of our members, but you can sit down while we wait.” Namjoon smiled at her.  
They all sat down on the floor in a circle in the middle of the room.  
“So, what does BTS stand for?” she asked after an awkward moment of silence.  
“BULLSHIT”, one of them immediately blurted out.  
“Do you even think before you speak? How the hell is BTS supposed to stand for Bullshit?” Namjoon sighed loudly.  
“Burritos”  
“Boring, talentless and stupid, “ Yoongi said.  
“Bottom Tae Supporters, “ came from the door. The two other members had entered the room and the one who said that received a round of applause and cheers. Their comment was probably referring to Taehyung who was sitting next to her, if Siyeon remembered their names correctly.  
The new arrivals introduced themselves as Jungkook and Jimin while sitting down.  
“But for real, what does it stand for?” Siyeon asked again, when everyone was sitting again.  
“Bangtan Sonyeondan, “ Namjoon finally answered her question. “It`s a reference to a dream we discussed in the very beginning of this group.”  
After a bit of conversation about how their last days had been, the main part of the meeting finally started.  
“Who has a dream to share?” Namjoon asked.  
All of them, including Namjoon himself, raised their hands.  
“Perfect. The one with the most interesting dream gets to decide with which song we are showing off to Siyeon later.” Namjoon winked at her.  
Jungkook, the youngest member, started. “In my dream, we were outside somewhere and we were running away from something. I think somebody was shooting at us? I was so scared. And you all just kept on telling me to aim and fire, but we had no guns, so we just acted like we were shooting with our fingers? It was very weird.”  
“There is something in his life everyone wants him to do, but he is missing something important to do that thing,” one of the members said.  
“But we don’t necessarily represent other people in his life. Do you remember that time when we were in his dream and represented his subconscious thoughts? Maybe this is the same. Maybe he wants to do something, or he feels like he has to do something, “Hoseok suggested.  
It was interesting listening to them analysing the dream. There were many different interpretations and they argued a lot about even the smallest details. The dreamer just sat there and listened to all of it carefully. Namjoon sometimes jumped in with his expertise, but mainly the others shared their interpretations of the dream. They didn’t agree on any interpretation in the end, everything was just left hanging out in the open for the dreamer to think about.  
Taehyung was the next to talk about his dream. He described it as being very colourful at first and that he kind of felt like he was on drugs because of the colours. “It didn`t really have like… a plot? It was just these feelings and pictures. We were standing in this room in front of the moon, for example.”  
This started a discussion about the meaning of colours in dreams and whether you really see in your dream or just think you see something.  
The next one, the others called him Jimin, painted a vivid picture of his dream with words. He was talking about sculptures, a painting, blood, sweat and tears. There also was a gigantic statue with big black wings and a dream sequence in which they were sitting at a table, making a toast or something.  
Siyeon could basically see everything right in front of her, his descriptions were just that good.  
Hoseok`s dream was pretty dark. “I think you died, Jin. And we just, I don`t know, lost it. We were partying first, and then we were in this tunnel full of cars and just fucked shit up. After that, we ran away. We ran a lot.”  
Hoseok was followed by Yoongi, whose dream was just them walking along a railway between some sort of trains. Not even Namjoon could make any sense out of just this one scene.  
Next, it was his turn. “It was so weird. There were so many snippets that didn`t really seem like they belonged together but they did belong together. I was wearing some sort of crown and then there was this scene were you all were throwing things at me. And then we were sitting in a train. And then we were walking outside. And there was this part where we were in what looked like a motel room? Cuddling on the coach, lying on the bed… and we were on this staircase once? It was just really weird.”  
The others had a hard time analysing this dream and they really struggled to connect to individual pieces together. In the end, they gave up.  
The last one to talk about his dream was Jin. In his dream, they were running. Again. This time, along an empty runway. He also mentioned some random pictures of a big fence and birds and other stuff.  
It took almost two hours till all the dreams were told and discussed. Siyeon found it quite fascinating listening to them. Their group dynamic was wonderful, they seemed really close and had a lot of inside jokes. She was a bit sad when the dream sharing was over.  
What made Siyeon wonder a bit, was the fact that every single one of them had dreamed about the whole group. Was that just a coincidence? Maybe they didn’t refer to BTS when some of them said “we”, but it just sounded like they were all talking about BTS. Were they so close to each other that they always dreamed about each other? Or did sharing your dreams with others change the way you think and dream about them?  
“Do you want to share a dream with us?” Namjoon finally asked Siyeon.  
“Now that you have seen how smart we all are.”  
“No, thanks.”  
“Okay, that`s fine. Then it`s time to decide whose dream was the most interesting one.” Namjoon clapped his hands.  
They took a vote, but as Hoseok was voting for his own dream and refused to change that decision, Jimin`s and Namjoon’s dreams had the same amount of votes.  
It was up to Siyeon to settle it.  
She considered it for a moment. What made Jimin’s dream so special was the way he had talked about it, the way he had described everything. He just seemed to be completely in love with whatever he saw in his dream. On the other hand, Namjoon’s dream could probably be discussed for centuries. But his description of the dream… it was just a bit disappointing. He didn’t really deserve a prize for that.  
“Jimin, choose a song, “she said and smiled at him.  
They ended up performing a song Siyeon had never heard before. It was amazing. Their voices were beautiful and their dancing skills killed her. They really should have formed a boy band. With their looks, character and talent they would have conquered the universe in a second. Or a few years.  
“So, Siyeon. Are you going to join a dream-sharing group?” Namjoon wanted to know after everyone else had left.  
She had completely forgotten about the reason she was her.  
“You had fun today, didn’t you?” He smiled at her. “You could have your own people to have fun with. It was not easy to find a group that works this well, but it’s possible and you can do it too.”  
Siyeon thought about it for a moment. She did want this. She wanted a group of people to talk, joke around, sing and dance with. She was tired of being lonely.  
But she didn’t want to share her dreams. She didn’t want anyone analysing what they said about her and her fucked up psyche. That was the last thing she needed.  
“Maybe.”


	2. Minji

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Minji has never remebered a dream in her life. But when her internet friend inlovewithamonster asks her to join a dream-sharing group, she can't resist...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I dont really know much about Tarot? So this (and every other scene including Tarot) is a mess. I have read one book about Tarot once and that's it. Hope you still enjoy the chapter!

Minji cussed under her breath. She was only seeing herself in the cards yet again. That was the worst thing about having a strong energy- it always overshadowed the one of her costumers.  
“I feel like it’s time to look at the card we put aside earlier, should we?” This was a lame trick to try and rescue the reading, but the costumer just nodded along.  
It was the Ten of Coins. This was good, she could easily work with this. “Oh! This changes everything.” She laughed what she believed was her cute laugh. “It is not about loss at all. It is about wealth. You will achieve something you have always wanted very soon. But first, you have to lose something. It is never an easy journey to reach wealth and happiness and yours could be particularly difficult. You should not forget to take care of yourself sometimes, because in your inner self you will find the strength you need to reach your goal. If you believe in yourself, you will be able to survive the hard times.”  
A minute later, Minji was alone with her cards again. Her next appointment was in an hour, so she had plenty of time to do a reading for herself. She did do a short one this morning, but now she had time to really get into her own mind and think.  
She struggled with finding the right spread. The Celtic Cross didn’t seem right for the question she had. None of the spreads she knew seemed right for the question. In the end, she ended up inventing her very own, new spread for this one question while shuffling the cards.  
First, she turned around the High Priestess. It was one of her favourite cards, beside the Queen of Cups, who was kind of similar. She had always aspired to be a bit more like the High Priestess. It was a card full of mystery. It was about being in touch with your spiritual, subconscious side. It was about finding yourself in the dark hidden parts of your soul. She loved that. She wanted to be like that. That’s why she never knew how to interpret her during a reading.  
Actually, she didn’t know how to interpret most of the cards during a reading. Especially when she was reading her own cards. She saw more of herself in the readings she did for other people than the ones she did for herself. Her boss said that was probably because of her strong energy and her inability to do something under pressure. Which didn’t make sense. Usually, she was good under pressure. Sometimes she could only reach her full potential under pressure. Minji had tried to figure this mess out using the cards- but of course she failed.  
Next, she turned around the Queen of Swords. She was full of truth, but she was so cruel with this truth, always hurting others while spreading it. Not really Minji’s favourite card, to be honest.  
After that, she turned around the Five of Swords. The suit of swords had always scared her, probably more than anything in the major arcana. Because it was pure pain. It started with pain and it ended with pain and the pain in the middle, the Five of Swords, was far from something you would want to see in your cards. It meant that you had endured pain up to now. You were enduring pain right now. And there was a lot, a lot of pain to come.  
When the next card she turned around was the Ace of Swords, she gave up and stopped her reading.  
\----------  
pinkprincess0517 [05:23 pm]: Still having nightmares?  
inlovewithamonster [05:34 pm]: Every night  
inlovewithamonster [05:34 pm]: I am seeing a specialist for dreams now  
pinkprincess0517 [05:40 pm]: That’s good. I hope they can help you.  
inlovewithamonster [05:41 pm]: he seems to know a lot  
\----------  
Minji spent a lot of time thinking about inlovewithamonster. It bothered her that she didn’t know her name. When she suggested that she should go get her cards read, she had secretly hoped that she would come to her so she could finally meet her.  
She had to talk to her about the dreams. But how do you bring that up casually? “Hey, I know you have weird nightmares, tell me all about them because I have never remembered a single dream in my entire life and I really want to.”  
It was as strange as it sounded. Minji wanted to have a dream. She would be happy to have a nightmare. For some reason, the fact that she never remembered a dream was destroying her. She just really wanted to talk to someone who also had some problems with dreams. Even though inlovewithamonster seemed to have very, very different problems.  
When she talked to the older woman who owned the store she was working in about her dream problem, she just got laughed at. “Some people just don’t remember their dreams. Don’t be sad about that. I have never in my life kissed a person, can you believe it? And I still managed to find happiness. It’s probably even easier to be happy if you don’t really dream at all.”  
“I just… I can’t shake off the feeling that I am missing something. And I just think the missing piece is hidden in my dreams.”  
“Don’t worry so much about it, kiddo. It will turn out fine. Being complete is overrated, dreams are just a burden and you still have time to figure everything out, if you really want to.” That just how the older woman was. She dumped a bunch of her wisdom on you in a few seconds, but she didn’t really take the time to listen to all of your worries and really think about them.  
“Thanks, I guess.” Minji sighed.  
\-------  
inlovewithamonster [07:33 pm]: You live in Seoul, right?  
pinkprincess0517 [07:56 pm]: Yes, why?  
inlovewithamonster [08:00 pm]: Ever feel the need to talk about your dreams  
inlovewithamonster [08:01 pm]: And get them analysed  
inlovewithamonster [08:01 pm]: And analyse the dreams of others  
inlovewithamonster [08:01 pm] And just be a part of an amazing group of people  
inlovewithamonster [08:02 pm]: Make new friends  
inlovewithamonster [08:02 pm]: But only if you like to sing and dance  
pinkprincess0517 [08:03 pm]: What does singing and dancing have to do with dreams?  
inlovewithamonster [08:04 pm]: Nothing I just want us to sing and dance together  
pinkprincess0517 [08:06 pm]: I’m in  
\-------  
The fist regrets came when she was waiting to meet inlovewithamonster. This was the worst decision Minji had ever made. Joining a group to talk about your dreams? Dreams she never remembered? What was she supposed to tell them? Should she just make dreams up? Or tell them the truth?  
She was probably the dumbest person alive. But at least she was quite confident in her singing voice and dancing skills.  
A new wave of panic hit her when she realized she would meet inlovewithamonster any minute now. And she still didn’t know her name. Or what she looked like.  
“pinkprincess0517?”, somebody behind her asked.  
Minji turned around and just hugged the person. “Inlovewithamonster!” Her voice was full of excitement.  
“I’m Siyeon”, the other girl introduced herself as soon as Minji let her go.  
“Siyeon, “ she repeated. “Beautiful name. I am Minji.”  
“Minji.” Siyeon smiled at her. “Your hair is amazing. Explains your username”  
She stared at the pink in her hair and smiled back. “Thanks.”  
They stood there in silence, neither of them had any idea what to say. “So, you can sing and dance?” Minji asked her finally.  
“I like to think so. I was a vocalist in school for five years.”  
“That’s … impressive.”  
Awkward silence again.  
“So, how many members does this group have?”  
“Two. You and me.” Siyeon looked at the floor.  
Minji didn’t expect that. She thought that Siyeon already had a group together. “And where do we find other members?”  
Siyeon tugged at her clothes. “That’s a good question. Namjoon… my kind of psychiatrist… he told me to just write a flyer or an advert or something.”  
That didn’t sound like the most convincing plan to Minji. “Okay. Here’s what we are gonna do. I actually work as a fortune teller, so I will keep an eye open at my job. Just in general, keep your eyes open everywhere and pay attention to potential candidates. And maybe you can use this connection to your psychiatrist to find other people who are interested in dreaming?”  
“That’s actually a good idea.” Siyeon looked relieved.  
“Another question: Where are we going to meet? We aren’t going to meet right here on the street, are we?”  
Siyeon looked around and Minji just knew that she hadn’t even thought about that.  
“Ask your psychiatrist if he can recommend you a place. If not, I am going to take care of it.”  
The other girl smiled. “I am so glad you are here.”  
“I am glad to be here.”


	3. Yoohyeon

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "This was not what happened in her dream."
> 
> When Minji asks Yoohyeon to join the dream-sharing group, she already knows that she and her best friend Yoobin will join the group eventually...

Yoohyeon didn’t really want to enter the store, but she had to. She was on her way back from university when a dreamcatcher in a window caught her attention. She knew straight away that it was the dreamcatcher she saw in her dream. So this was it. This was the start of something important. She had to go in.  
Her teeth started to itch.  
A loud bell announced her arrival in the store and a young woman came out of the back of the store. She had pink hair and when she saw Yoohyeon, a bright smile spread on her face. “You aren’t by any chance interested in dreams? And can sing and dance?”  
“What?”, Yoohyeon was slightly confused. This was not what happened in her dream.  
“Oh, I am sorry. I am Minji. A friend and I just opened a dream-sharing group and we are looking for members. So maybe you are interested? You seem to be the right age and if you walk in here, you have to have at least a bit of interest in mystical stuff… and dreams.” The young woman laughed a bit.  
“Actually, I am interested. And I can sing really well. Also, my moves are out of this world.” Yoohyeon tried to do some sort of elegant turn, but she failed and started to laugh.  
“This is perfect!” Minji got really excited and jumped. “You have to join our group.”  
“When and where?” Yoohyeon knew from her dream that this was a good thing. This was the best thing. Even though this whole conversation did not happen in her dream.  
“Just give me your number and I will give you a call as soon as we start our meetings. Oh, and if you know somebody else who might be interested…” Minji shrugged with her shoulders and smiled.  
Yoohyeon typed her number into the phone Minji gave her. “I actually think I do.”  
“You do? That’s great. Oh, you don’t know how happy I am!” Minji laughed again. “This is going to be amazing.”  
They shared an excited smile.  
Yoohyeon gave her the phone back. “I’ll text you to let you know whether she is interested.”

\---------

Yoobin was not interested.  
“You didn’t even bother to ask about any details? Like maybe what a dream-sharing group does?”  
Yoohyeon crossed her arms. “It was the right decision. I know it was. And I also know that you have to join as well.”  
Yoobin just shook her head. “I am not interested in sharing my dreams with random strangers.”  
“You don’t have to! I am not going to either. I am just gonna tell them some bullshit about how I was falling in my dream or something.”  
“What is the point in joining a dream-sharing group if you don’t even want to talk about your dreams?” Yoobin seemed to be a bit annoyed by the whole idea.  
“But it’s not only about the dreams. It’s about meeting new people and we are also going to sing and dance together. And I know you love that.”  
“True. But if I wanted to sing and dance with random strangers, I would join a group that focuses on that.”  
“Just try it! Come to one meeting with me. Don’t you trust my dreams?” Yoohyeon knew she had to get Yoobin to go to these meetings with her. Not just because it was in her dream. But also because she would feel a lot better knowing that someone who knows the truth about her dreams was there.  
And also because Yoobin was her best friend and roommate and everything was better if she was there.  
“Not really. Remember in school, when you dreamed that I would fail my maths exam?”  
“That was actually a lie. I just wanted to get you to study more.”  
Yoobin sighed. “Okay, so what exactly did you dream about me and this group?”  
“I dreamed that you and I picked up those identical dreamcatchers and we started to glow. And then I was invited to the group. Via a flyer, but you know, details. And then you and I went into this room where five other girls sat on the floor.”  
“This is it? What if the group sucks? Just because you dreamed that we would go to the meeting doesn’t mean that it’s a good idea.” Yoobin rolled her eyes.  
“Please, Yoobin. One meeting.”  
“No. Why would I?”  
Suddenly Yoohyeon found the best argument to convince Yoobin. She laughed a bit. “The girls were all really, really pretty in my dream. And Minji today was even prettier than in my dreams.”  
“Don’t do this to me.”  
“Five beautiful girls our age… who can sing and dance… and are pretty…”  
“I absolutely hate you.”  
Yoohyeon was grinning. “I’ll text Minji that you are coming!”


	4. Siyeon

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "She could do it. She would go talk to a girl and casually invite her to her dream-sharing group even though that girl moved like she was a goddess. And definitely looked like one. "

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Siyeon being gay and some group chats. Hope you enjoy!

DREAM GIRLS  
Siyeon [08:05 am]: I may have found a potential room, anyone wanna go check it out with me?  
Yoohyeon [09:17 am]: YEEEEESSS I’ve been waiting to meet you for ages  
Yoobin [09:34 am]: Ages? You’ve literally only known she existed since yesterday  
Minji [10:46 am]: Where is it? How much does it cost?  
Siyeon [01:20 pm]: gonna send you the address later. and we are getting it for free  
Yoobin [02:01 pm]: what kind of room is it that we can just use it for free???  
Minji [02:34 pm]: Did Namjoon recommend it to you?  
Yoohyeon [03:06 pm]: Who tf is Namjoon?  
Minji [03:32 pm]: He’s a member of a group  
Minji [03:32 pm]: the one that inspired Siyeon to do this  
Siyeon [05:02 pm]: It’s a good room, I promise  
Siyeon [05:03 pm]: but we can only go there late in the evening  
Siyeon [05:03 pm]: And yes, he did, it belongs to a friend of him  
Siyeon [05:03 pm]: Which is why we get it for free but only in the evening

Siyeon was texting the group chat on her way home. Yoohyeon and Yoobin seemed to be really nice people, especially Yoohyeon’s excitement for this group made her really happy. They hadn’t talked about dreams yet – luckily, because Siyeon still hadn’t figured out what she should do about that. She just kind of created a dream-sharing group without wanting to talk about her dreams. Maybe she should just make up dreams. Or she could use the dreams of the BTS members, even if that would be kind of shitty. But no one would even know where those dreams came from…  
A group of street dancers suddenly caught her attention. They were good. Really good. There were ten of them overall and they all really knew how to dance. But the other nine didn’t compare at all to the girl at the centre of the group. The way she moved absolutely killed Siyeon. And her body… wow. She couldn’t take her eyes of her for a second until the song ended. 

MINJI  
Siyeon [05:11 pm]: I just saw the most amazing dancer I have ever seen  
Siyeon [05:11 pm]: Please prepare my grave I am gonna go talk to her  
Minji [05:12 pm]: Grave is ready.  
Minji [05:12 pm]: I’ll start writing a eulogy now

Siyeon put her phone back into her pocket and took a deep breath. She could do it. She would go to talk to a girl and casually invite her to her dream-sharing group even though she moved like she was a goddess. And definitely looked like one. One deep breath and she would go do it.  
But Siyeon couldn’t find her. While the group of dancers was still standing, talking to some of the people around them, the goddess in the red pullover had just vanished.  
“Hey, “ a voice behind her suddenly said. Siyeon had a little heart attack when she saw red out of the corner of her eyes. It couldn’t be. “Hey, “ the voice repeated.  
Siyeon turned around so fast that her hair flew right into the face of the girl in front of her. “Oh fuck, I am so, so sorry!”  
The goddess just laughed. “It’s fine. I am Kim Bora.”  
“Lee Siyeon.” She almost stuttered saying her own name.  
“I just wanted to tell you that I think your outfit is amazing.” Bora smiled at her.  
“Thanks, “ she said really quietly. Her phone buzzed in her hand and reminded her of what she wanted to say to the goddess. “Your moves just now were… incredible.”  
“Ah, thank you.”  
“I wondered if you have any interest in dreams.” Siyeon talked really fast and really quiet. This was such a weird and random thing to ask someone she had just met.  
Bora just stared at her for a moment, completely frozen. “What?”  
“Well… are you interested in dreams?” Siyeon repeated, this time, a bit slower and louder.  
Bora just proceeded to stare at her. Siyeon had no idea what she was thinking right now. Finally, she laughed awkwardly. “Why do you ask?”  
“Well… a few friends and I just are just about to start a dream-sharing group and we are still looking for members. And we kind of decided that we would also dance and sing, so I thought… maybe you were interested. We could use a talented dancer like you.”  
“What exactly is a dream-sharing group?” Bora seemed confused, which wasn’t surprising.  
“It’s a group of people that meets to talk about their dreams and analyse them a bit or just do whatever they want...” Siyeon got gradually quieter with every word.  
She just got another stare from Bora.  
“If you are even the least bit interested, I can give you my number and you just call me if you are interested. Or know someone who could be interested.”  
Bora silently took her phone out of her pocket and gave it to Siyeon. She quickly typed her number into it and gave it back with a smile. “It was nice talking to you!”  
The goddess was still just starring at Siyeon, but she turned around and just left her standing there.  
\-----------------  
BORA  
Bora [10:46 pm]: Hey, it’s me, Bora  
Bora [10:47 pm]: I am interested  
Bora [10:47 pm]: I wanna join your dream group  
Siyeon [11:39 pm]: I am so glad  
Siyeon [11:39 pm]: I’m gonna add you to the group chat right now, wait  
Siyeon [11:39 pm]: they are all really nice, I promise

DREAM GIRLS  
Siyeon [11:38 pm]: I found another member  
Siyeon [11:38 pm]: She is a really talented dancer  
Siyeon [11:40 pm]: be nice to her  
Siyeon [11:40 pm]: Her name’s Kim Bora, btw  
Bora was added to DREAM GIRLS  
Yoohyeon [11:43 pm]: WELCOME TO THE DREAM GIRLS  
Yoohyeon [11:43 pm]: THIS IS AWESOME we really need awesome dancers  
Yoobin [11:45 pm]: Why aren’t you asleep you said you were going to bed early tonight because of class tomorrow?  
Yoohyeon [11:46 pm]: Fuck u u are not my mother  
Yoobin [11:47 pm]: I am aware of that  
Yoobin [11:47 pm]: I am younger than you  
Yoohyeon [11:48 pm]: Anyway NICE MEETING YOU BORA I am Yoohyeon the only talented singer here  
Bora [11:50 pm]: Nice meeting you too Yoohyeon  
Yoobin [11:52 pm]: I am Yoobin  
Minji [11:57 pm]: Hello, Bora! I am Minji :)  
Minji [11:58 pm]: but I am going to bed now  
Minji [11:59 pm]: Dream of me  
Yoobin [11:59 pm]: Why do you want us to have nightmares  
Yoohyeon [11:59 pm]: Don’t encourage Yoobin and her sex dreams  
Siyeon [11:59 pm]: Baby good night


	5. Minji

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "Being a leader had always been something Minji secretly loved. Or not so secretly, as she couldn’t help but take control over things sometimes."

“It’s okay”, Siyeon said and looked around the little studio.  
“Okay? I think it’s perfect. It looks like we are a professional girl group practising here, not a dream-sharing group.” Minji was smiling brightly. This place already felt like home.  
“Well, that’s what was supposed to happen in here, until the company went bankrupt. It was called Happy Face entertainment or something like that.”  
“I’d feel bad for the company, but I guess this is good for us.”  
Yoohyeon and Yoobin entered the room. While Yoobin was busy checking out Minji and Siyeon from a safe distance, Yoohyeon just straight away ran to Minji and hugged her. “This place is amazing!”  
Minji already really liked her. “As soon as Bora is here, we should try the acoustic, “ she suggested.  
“Or we can just try it now.” Yoohyeon didn’t even hesitate, she just started singing the chorus of Troye Sivan’s “Youth”.  
She had a really beautiful voice. Minji couldn’t help but feel a bit self-conscious about her own voice. She had expected that everyone’s singing talent was about average or maybe a bit better... but Yoohyeon’s voice was nowhere even near average. What if all the other girls also had to voices of angels? Then she wouldn’t only be the one who had no dreams to share, but also the one who was not talented enough.  
Siyeon joined in. Her voice was absolutely amazing. Even Yoobin came over to the rest of the group to listen to the impromptu duet of the two women.  
When they finished, Minji clapped full of excitement. “That was incredible!”  
“It really was.” Bora came in through the door and smiled at them. “I am in love with your voices.”  
Yoohyeon bowed a little and thanked the others, while Siyeon was already running to greet Bora.  
“Should we get to the real business?” Minji suggested and sat down right where she was standing.  
“What business?” Yoohyeon seemed actually confused that there were things to plan about this group, but she followed the others when everyone was sitting down.  
“How often do we meet? And when? Should we bring food and drinks? Do we need anything else?”  
“I nominate Minji to be our dream leader.” Siyeon suddenly said.  
Bora seemed confused. “What the hell is a dream leader?”  
“That’s what my acquaintance called it. I think the dream leader just… leads through the meeting. Somebody should probably do that, otherwise it could be pretty chaotic. And as Minji is the oldest and the perfect leader, I think she is the most logical choice.”  
“Let’s take a vote. Anyone else interested in taking the job?” Minji looked around, but everybody seemed to agree with Siyeon’s words. Or they just didn’t feel like taking on responsibility.  
“Minji, you’re our official leader, “ Yoohyeon decided with a smile on her face. “You’re doing a great job already.”  
Being a leader had always been something Minji secretly loved. Or not so secretly, as she couldn’t help but take control over things sometimes. “Thank you, “she said to the others. “Now, let’s start.”  
\-------  
An hour later Minji sat alone in the studio. They had agreed on meeting twice a week, on Tuesdays and Fridays. After a long discussion, they had decided to order food if necessary. And then they had just sat there and talked about music.  
It had been nice. Really nice. Everyone got along really well and they had laughed a lot. Bora even showed them some of her dance moves and Yoobin had rapped for them. The music part was going amazing.  
But next Tuesday would be a problem. Because they would talk about dreams. Minji still didn’t know what to do. Tell them that she had never remembered a dream in her life? Would they kick her out of the group, even though she was the leader now? Or should she just make up a few interesting dream every other week?  
Or maybe she could work harder on remembering her dreams.  
That night, she set up an alarm every 90 minutes. No result. The next night, she let herself sleep for 14 hours. No result. The night from Monday to Tuesday, she took a dream enhancer. No result, except that she woke up feeling nauseated.  
“Nothing works, “ she complained to her boss again. “I tried everything.”  
“Giving up is probably the worst thing you can do. I have never given up once in my life until something forced me to do so. Keep trying.”  
“Why do I even bother asking you for help?”  
“Because I am wise and old. And I know that dreaming sucks.” The old woman patted her on the head. “Kiddo, stop worrying that much. Go and sort the dreamcatchers.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Am I the only one who would die if they actually did a cover of a Troye song?


	6. Yoohyeon

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "She felt a strong urge to kill Yoobin right now. "

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WARNING: one dream described here is not really pleasant. it's based on a brutal execution method that Vikings may (or may not) have used on their enemies called blood eagle. I don't really go into detail, I just vaguely describe it.

Yoohyeon was excited about their first meeting. She had seen great things in her dreams. There was something off about her dreams, though, but it was probably just that she felt bad about lying to the others.  
She and Yoobin had spent the whole evening yesterday trying to come up with believable and interesting dreams to share with the others. It had been quite fun, but Yoohyeon couldn’t shake off the bad feeling. She just wasn’t the biggest fan of starting a friendship based on lies.  
When the two of them entered the room, everyone else was already there. And they all seemed just as nervous as Yoohyeon was.  
They started their meeting with a bit of small talk about their last days. Bora talked about one of her performances on the street, Siyeon told them about a new computer game, Minji complained about a costumer and Yoobin about one of her professors. It was nice to just talk to them about normal stuff and they all were a bit more relaxed after that.  
“So, who wants to start and share a dream with us?” Minji finally asked.    
No one said anything. They just looked at each other and waited for someone to say something.  
Finally, Yoobin gave in. “Looks like I am gonna start. So, in my dream, I was taking some sort of exam. I think it was really important? But my hands were tied behind my back and I obviously couldn’t write with them. When I asked the professor what to do, he just looked at me funny. And he also didn’t look like my professor, but like my father. I had to give in an empty paper.”  
Yoohyeon was pretty proud of this one. It was really believable and it actually represented Yoobin’s struggle with university. She had kind of a problem with exams and when she asked people for help, they just told her that she was too dumb to do it. Which Yoohyeon knew was not true at all. Yoobin was the smartest person she knew. Other people just didn’t notice that because they were actually dumb enough to believe that grades were an accurate standard to measure intelligence with. Sadly, Yoobin’s father was one of them. He always pressured her to do better or to just drop out of university and “go find some job already”.  
“Do you have any big exam coming up soon?” Minji wanted to know.  
“Finals are in a few weeks.”  
“Then it’s probably about your finals. Maybe you feel like everybody is expecting something from you that you are just not able to do, but nobody sees that? And I think your father is the worst of all, “ Siyeon interpreted the dream.  
The interpretation was exactly what they were thinking when making the dream up.  
“Maybe you generally feel like your father doesn’t take you seriously?” Bora added.  
“You are definitely afraid of your finals, “ Minji said. “Any other ideas what it could mean? No? Yoobin, you can think about what we said, you don’t have to say anything. Who wants to go next?”  
This was going a lot faster than Yoohyeon was expecting. Maybe because the dream was fake and made up to be easy to interpret. Was their work too obvious? Would anybody notice that it wasn’t a real dream?  
Bora raised her hand. “I had an interesting dream on the weekend. I was being chased by a gigantic teddy bear with a knife in the hand. And I was wearing these weird pink boots that were so heavy, I couldn’t really run very fast. And when the teddy bear caught up to me, it picked me up and just stuck me in its ear. It was really weird.”  
“Did you ever have a teddy bear like that when you were a child?” Minji wanted to know.  
“No, I didn’t. I wasn’t really into stuffed animals.”  
Minji thought about it for a minute. “Then maybe the dream’s about that. Maybe you feel like you missed out on something during your childhood.”  
Yoobin shook her head. “How does that make sense? She was being chased by stuffed animal with a knife. A knife. This is some brutal shit. Maybe you didn’t have stuffed animals because they scared you?”  
“But why would she dream about her childhood fear of teddy bears now?” Siyeon asked.  
“Maybe the teddy bear just represents her childhood. Maybe she is afraid her childhood will catch up with her. It’s possible that something bad happened to her when she was a kid.” Yoohyeon said. It was weird to talk about Bora like that when she was sitting right there listening to everything.  
“Or she just saw or heard something that reminded her of her childhood, “ Yoobin mumbled, but the others ignored her.  
Minji nodded along with Yoohyeon’s theory. “That’s possible. But what about the pink boots? They are stopping her from running away from her childhood. They could be a symbol for a memory that’s dragging her back to her childhood. Maybe she even owned pink boots as a child?”  
“That makes sense. I just don’t see why the teddy bear ends up sticking her into his ear. “ Siyeon stared at Bora thoughtfully.  
“Maybe it’s about hearing. Couldn’t it be possible that she heard something as a child and that’s now catching  up to her?” Yoobin touched her own ears.  
“Or she has another problem with ears. This is quite plausible. Definitely also a dream about fear, though.” Minji concluded.  
Bora nodded a bit. “I will think about that. Thank you all for your thoughts.”  
The next one who shared a dream was Minji. She talked about her boss telling her weird things in the dream, like that she should eat tarot cards or replace her hair with dreamcatchers. “I had to do everything she said. In the end, I was not human anymore, just bits and pieces of things out of the store.”  
“You definitely have problems with your job. And your boss. Maybe some sort of similar thing is happening in reality, it’s just not physical, but mental? Your boss is telling you things and slowly replacing your own thoughts and emotions with magical stuff and … I don’t know, ” Siyeon said.  
“Maybe this is also a fear? Maybe she is afraid to lose her humanity or something in this store.” Yoohyeon really liked interpreting the dreams, but she didn’t think she was being helpful at all.  
“Why would she lose her humanity though? I don’t get it.” Yoobin gave her a confused look.  
“Do I know what she has to do in this store? Anything is possible.” Yoohyeon shrugged. She couldn’t really take Minji’s job as fortune teller seriously. Who the hell even went to see a fortune teller anymore? And how the hell did people become fortune tellers, especially young and talented ones like Minji? She didn’t get it at all.  
Without any further discussion of the dream, they moved on to the next one. Maybe they just sucked at interpreting dreams or they just had no practise and the tempo hadn’t been about dream being made up at all.  
Yoohyeon decided to share her fake dream now. Personally, she thought it was too cliché, but Yoobin had thought it was perfectly believable. “I dreamed that all my teeth were falling out. And Yoobin was there to collect them and she made a necklace out of them. It was really disturbing.”  
Yoobin laughed a bit, acting like she wasn’t the one who came up with the dream. “I would definitely do that. A teeth necklace is kind of badass.”  
“It’s just disgusting. But the beginning is really common in dreams. I heard that it can be a sign of the loss of a loved one in the near future. Or financial loss. Or any other loss, “ Minji started the discussion. That interpretation was really dark and she was glad that she didn’t actually lose her teeth in a dream.  
“I heard that it’s often something sexual, “ Yoobin added. That damn girl. She knew this all along when she came up with this dream for Yoohyeon. “It could be about a hidden sexual desire. Or about losing her virginity. Or both.”  
She felt a strong urge to kill Yoobin right now.  
“She wants to lose her virginity to Yoobin!” Siyeon said. “That would make a lot of sense.”  
“Maybe she did lose her virginity to Yoobin…” Bora was staring at the both of them.  
Now Yoobin also seemed to be uncomfortable. She probably didn’t think about what it was going to look like if she inserted herself into the dream.  
Minji didn’t really seem to believe that theory. “But why did Yoobin make a necklace out of the teeth? And why would she start to interpret the dream like she did just now?”  
“Well, maybe she was parading it around and that’s what the necklace is about. And her comment before doesn’t really have to mean anything, ” Siyeon speculated. It seemed like there was no space for privacy in the dream-sharing group at all. Or the other girls just didn’t have a sense of when it got too much.  
“Now I really want to know if they did it or not.” Bora was grinning a bit now.  
They didn’t. And Yoohyeon didn’t have any intention on ever changing that, even though Yoobin was beautiful and quite sexy.  
Luckily, Minji noticed that the two girls weren’t really comfortable with the topic. “Siyeon, do you have a dream to share with us?” Her voice was really soft and she put a hand on the other girl’s arm carefully. There was a certain worry to it. Yoohyeon didn’t really know what that was about.  
Bora also leaned towards Siyeon a bit. “You don’t have to tell us anything if you don’t want to.”  
Siyeon shook her head. “It’s fine. That’s why we’re here. Last night, I had a dream about being ripped open with an axe. I was kind of floating in the air above my body, but I could still feel the pain of it. Some guy was ripping open my chest from behind and he took out what looked like my lungs and arranged them over my back… It hurt quite a lot and I woke up having trouble breathing for a few minutes.”  
That dream was disturbing. Really disturbing. Who the fuck dreamed about being ripped open with an axe? Wasn’t that like a thing Vikings had done?  
For whatever reason, this dream confused Bora. She was frowning at Siyeon. “Interesting dream.”  
“I have absolutely no idea what that could mean, “ Yoohyeon said. “This is just some horror movie shit. Did you watch something like that yesterday?”  
“Do you have or did you ever have any trouble with your lungs and breathing?” Yoobin wanted to know. “It could be about that.”  
Siyeon just shook her head.  
And that was the end of their dream-sharing round for this day. Yoohyeon was actually slightly disappointed. She had imagined it very differently. Every dream only took them a few minutes which seemed like very little time. And all their interpretations were just random nonsense.  
She was glad that nobody noticed their fake dreams. But in retrospect, how should they have identified them as fake? Nobody knew what other people were dreaming about. There had been no significant difference between their dreams and the dreams of the other girls.  
They spent the rest of the time talking about music again. A few times, they actually sang part of a song together and Yoohyeon was impressed by how talented everyone was. At the end of their hour, Bora taught them a part of one of her choreographies. Yoohyeon hadn’t dreamed about how happy and comfortable she would feel with these girls outside of the dream-sharing part.  
But she did have dreams about something else concerning the group. After everyone else except Yoobin and Minji had left, she approached their leader. “I think we should continue to look for new members. Five people just seems to be… not enough.”  
“You think so? I read on the internet the five is a good number for a dream-sharing circle.”  
“I think we should at least be seven.” She had seen it in her dreams. They needed to have seven members. There were always seven members in her dreams. Sometimes, she hated the fact that she didn’t know why something was important and this was one of the times. She had no idea why they needed to have seven members, she just knew they had to find two more members. “Namjoon’s group also has seven members, right? It’s just the perfect amount.”  
“We should ask the others, before we make any decisions here.”  
“Please, Minji. I think this is really important. As the leader, you can make that decision yourself.”  
“If you want us to have new members, go find new members. If they fit into our group, maybe we will accept them, “Minji gave in halfway. “But only if everybody wants them to be in our group.”  
Yoohyeon knew she won. “Thanks. You’re the best leader.”


	7. Siyeon

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "Creating the group was probably one of the worst ideas she had ever had, but she already felt so deeply connected to the other girls."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Namjoon's back! Also, I don't really know much about sleep labs and what happens there. I googled it once and then just came up with shit that fit to the story.

“How is it going with your dream-sharing group?” Namjoon asked at the beginning of their session.  
“We had our first meeting yesterday. It was fine, I guess.”  
“Did you tell them about one of your dreams?”  
“I may have told them about something I once saw on TV.” Siyeon had made a whole list of movie or TV show scenes she would be able to sell as her own dreams without being too obvious. There were all quite brutal, but if the girls couldn’t handle those fake dreams, they surely wouldn’t be able to handle her real dreams.  
Namjoon gave her a disapproving look. “You are lying to them? You could have just told them that you don’t want to share your dreams.”  
“But I basically am the founder of this group. Wouldn’t it be weird if I didn’t even want to talk about my dreams?”  
He sighed. “Remember Jungkook? He didn’t share a single dream with us for the first few weeks. Everyone was fine with it and everyone would have been fine with it if he had never shared a dream. But eventually, he did.”  
“That’s different. Was Jungkook the one who started the group?”  
“He wasn’t. But if your dreamers really would have a problem with you taking your time, maybe you chose the wrong dreamers.”  
Siyeon shook her head. “The girls are amazing. I just don’t think it’s fair that they give me a really personal insight into their minds, even though I don’t want them to have any insight into my mind.”  
“And lying to them is better?”  
“I just want them to feel comfortable, “ she said.  
“I do get that. But don’t you think they deserve honesty? Don’t you think that would be a bit fairer than just lying to them?”  
Siyeon hated to admit that she knew that Namjoon was completely right. He didn’t say things she hadn’t thought about herself. But she was too afraid to lose the group. She was too afraid of talking about her dreams. She couldn’t tell them the truth.  
Creating the group was probably one of the worst ideas she had ever had, but she already felt so deeply connected to the other girls, that she didn’t really regret that decision. Yet.  
Namjoon sensed that it was time to change the subject. “Remember when I told you that I wanted to monitor you while sleeping? I still think that would be a good idea.”  
“How exactly does that work? You are gonna put some strange machine on me that will measure my brain activity, right? How will that help me with my nightmares?”  
“Directly, it won’t. But it will help me understand your dreams better and then I may have some sort of idea how to help you. It’s probably best if you would come in on several nights, so we can actually get some accurate results to work with. This sounds scary, but I promise you, I once spent two months in a row monitoring myself while sleeping and it was a great experience. I learned a lot about my dreams and the beds in the sleep labs are actually really comfortable.”  
Siyeon considered it. Sleeping in an unknown environment for several nights. People watching her sleep, seeing her wake up full of panic and drenched in sweat. And the question “What was your dream about?” again and again and again and again.  
No way in hell was she going to agree to that.  
“I will think about it.”  
They both knew that this was basically a no.  
\--------  
That night, Namjoon was in one of her nightmares.  
She was alone in the beginning. Just sitting there in some sort of very small box, not able to move. And she was in so much pain. So much pain. She had no idea where the pain was coming from, but it was everywhere inside her body and her mind. And it even felt like she was surrounded by pain completely. A scream was caught inside her throat, but she couldn’t let it out. She couldn’t move.  
And then she was losing her mind. Her thoughts felt like they were slowing down at first and then they were speeding up again, becoming fast enough that she couldn’t even follow her own thoughts anymore. In the end, the only clear thing in her mind was the pain.  
She had had similar dreams before. Pain, going crazy, not being able to move, being trapped in narrow spaces… Those were recurring themes in her nightmares. Usually, she still felt the aftertaste of them after waking up. Sometimes she would have a headache for days after a particularly horrible dream. Sometimes she just started screaming randomly after waking up. Sometimes her mind wouldn’t really work for a whole day after going crazy in her dreams. That was one of the worst things about her dreams.  
Suddenly, she felt a hand on her shoulder. And as soon as the hand touched her, the whole dream changed. The pain, the madness, everything went away. She was standing outside in a forest and she was able to move and breathe in the soft, warm air.  
Namjoon was standing next to her, wearing a dress that looked like a cloud. “That’s better, isn’t it?”  
Jungkook was standing behind him, smiling at her. “I know how you feel.”  
Siyeon blinked confused. She knew she was dreaming. And she didn’t feel the wish to wake up.  
What was happening? This had never happened before, had it? Maybe she just forgot about it.  
“Your dreams can always be like this. Wouldn’t that be nice?” Namjoon smiled. “No pain. Just peace. And you don’t have to be alone.”  
“What are you talking about?”  
“Come to the sleep labs. It’s a good thing.” He winked at her and the boys just disappeared.  
The pain came back.


	8. Minji

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "I think it would be very helpful for the group if you stepped down from your leader position."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry that the chapters are so short... but idk, it just happened like that.

Minji had set up a meeting with Kim Namjoon.  
That was probably not a good idea. But he didn’t need to know that she was part of Siyeon’s dream-sharing group. After all, if somebody was able to help her remember her dreams, it would be an expert like him.  
He greeted her with a welcoming smile. “Nice to meet you, Minji. I am Kim Namjoon, but you can just call me Namjoon.”  
“Nice to meet you, too, “ she said while sitting down opposite of him.  
“How can I help you?” he asked.  
“I want to remember my dreams. I have never in my life remembered a single dream and I just really want to dream.”  
“I know exactly what could help you. You should join a dream-sharing group.”  
That caught Minji off-guard. “A dream-sharing group? How would that help me with my dreams?”  
Namjoon looked her deep into the eyes. “Wait, you are already part of a circle, aren’t you? You belong to Siyeon’s group.” He closed his eyes for a second. “Fuck, you are even the dream leader. And you have never remembered a dream in your whole life?”  
“How do you know that?”  
“Siyeon, how else?” he said. “We talk a lot about her dream-sharing group nowadays.”  
“You won’t tell her that I was here, right?” Her time with Siyeon would probably be over if she knew that Minji had been lying to her the whole time.  
“Of course not. But you should consider telling her the truth. And I think it would be very helpful for the group if you stepped down from your leader position.”  
“Is it that bad not having dreams as a leader? You just have to guide the others through the meetings. I don’t see why I have to have dreams for that.”  
“It’s really good for the group if their leader has experience with dreams. Possibly even lucid dreams. Never having had a dream at all… I just can’t imagine that you will be able to fulfil all your responsibilities as a leader.” Namjoon pointed at himself. “My job is connected to dreaming and even I have faced situations as leader that pushed my knowledge about dreams to their boundaries. You should make Siyeon the leader.”  
“Siyeon doesn’t want to do it. She was the one who wanted me to be the leader.”  
“I will talk to her about it. Without mentioning your problem, of course. About the solution for your problem… be patient.”  
Wow. If she had wanted that kind of advice, she would have just asked her boss again. “And then what? Will I magically remember one of my dreams in the future without doing anything?”  
“Give it time. The dream-sharing circle will change the way you think about dreams. Maybe that will help you. If you haven’t dreamed after six months with the circle, you can come visit me again and we will work something out.”  
Minji really had expected more from an expert. “Thank you, I guess.”  
“Oh, before you go, I have one question. If the circle doesn’t know that you have never had a dream, what are you doing when it comes to talking about your dreams?”  
“I just make something up.”  
“Oh, this is just perfect, “Namjoon mumbled. “Why don’t you just tell them the truth?”  
“I don’t want to be kicked out. Why would they want somebody in their dream-sharing group who doesn’t even dream?”  
He laughed. “You are killing me.”  
Minji had no idea what he was talking about.


	9. Yoohyeon

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "She had also been dreaming about cookies and smoothies and apples… That had to be a sign. "

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Again, I have absolutely no idea about lucid dreaming, I've never had a single lucid dream in my entire life and I know basically nothing about how to learn it...

Yoohyeon had no idea where she was supposed to find two new members for their dream-sharing group. So she did what she always did when she didn’t know what to do: she took a thousand naps a day and waited for the solution to appear in her dreams.  
But she just kept on dreaming about food.  
“What about Karaoke Girl? She could sing. Maybe she is interested in dreams, “ she asked Yoobin while they were eating dinner.  
“Not happening. I am not gonna invite my ex to this bullshit.”  
Yoohyeon laughed. “I wouldn’t consider someone you made out with once an ex.”  
“Twice. And then she dumbed me for her ex-boyfriend going on and on about how straight she was and how she thanked me for making that clear for her.”  
She’d already heard this story about a thousand times, so she just ignored it. “Why won’t my dreams show me the solution? How do normal people always live like this?”  
“It’s pretty easy, honestly. You just do whatever you want, or what other people want you to do, and you don’t have to worry about not following what your dreams told you.”  
“Making decisions is horrible, though.”  
Yoobin rolled her eyes. “Some people would be glad if they had the freedom to make decisions.”  
“Maybe the food is a sign?” Yoohyeon thought out loud. “What if the new members have something to do with food?”  
“Do you want to go to every place in Seoul that has any connection to food? Yoohyeon, just chill. If we need other members, we will find them eventually.”  
“I have to do something. Wait, I have an idea…” She went into her room to pick up her laptop. “There have to be some sort of dream forums… Maybe I will find somebody there.”  
“Do whatever you want, I am going to read now.” Yoobin took her food with her and left the kitchen.  
Yoohyeon spent the whole night looking through dream forums. She was close to giving up, when she found a promising blog at 1 am.

_My journey to lucid dreaming_

_Oreo chocolate smoothies (posted today, 9:00 am)_  
Hey guys!  
I keep on having these weird dreams about food. Especially Oreo chocolate smoothies. Except that they taste like shit in my dreams. I have been making zero progress with project “Lucid Dreams” lately. After that one lucid dream two weeks ago… nothing. Just cookies and Oreo chocolate smoothies that taste like shit. I also dreamed about an apple yesterday. What’s up with that?  
Anyone have any new tips on how to achieve lucidity?  
I am gonna discuss a few of the things I tried so far soon. Stay tuned!  
-Handong

This was it. That was the girl Yoohyeon was looking for. She had also been dreaming about cookies and smoothies and apples… That had to be a sign. Handong seemed to be Chinese, though. How would she get a girl from China to come join a dream-sharing circle in Seoul?  
Her dreams had to be right. She had to try.  
So she wrote her an email.

From: Kim Yoohyeon  
To: Handong's Dreams  
Subject: Lucid dreams  
01:34 am

Hey Handong!

My name is Kim Yoohyeon. I just found your blog and thought you might be interested in joining a dream-sharing group? I am part of a small group located in Seoul and we are currently looking for new members. I think talking about your dreams with us could really help you on your way to lucid dreaming. And it’s also fun! The girls there are all really cool (especially me;) ) and besides talking about our dreams, we also all really love music and sing and dance together. We meet twice a week, on Tuesday and Friday at 8pm. From what I have read on your blog, you seem to be the perfect match for our group. Any chance you’re interested? If you have time, you can come to one of our meetings before you make a decision. Just contact me, if you want to do it.

Sincerely,  
Kim Yoohyeon

From: Handong's Dreams  
To: Kim Yoohyeon  
Subject: Re: Lucid dreams  
09:22 am

Dear Kim Yoohyeon!

That sounds really great. I would be honoured to come by and watch one of your meetings! If it is okay, I would come by next Tuesday. Just send me the address and I will be there.

Sincerely,  
Handong

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Handong my girl is finally here! Leave a comment what you think about the story so far.


	10. Siyeon / Bora

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "Not that Bora was one to talk. After all, all she had ever told them had been lies."

“Who wants to share a dream?” Minji asked the group.  
Today had been a strange day for Siyeon. After the dream she had about Namjoon, she had skipped her session with him because she wasn’t ready to face him in reality. She had been thinking about the meaning of the dream the whole time and the message was clear: Her subconscious wanted her to go to the sleep labs and let Namjoon do whatever he wanted. She just didn’t think it was a good idea to trust her subconscious.  
And then Minji had taken her aside right before the meeting. And asked her whether she had talked to Namjoon. When Siyeon wanted to know why, Minji just shrugged and started to talk to Bora.  
“Can I say something before we start?” Yoohyeon said. “I have found a potential new member. She is really interested in dreams, especially lucid dreams. She would like to come by next Tuesday. Is everyone okay with that?”  
“A new member?” Siyeon had thought that five people were enough. Why would they need another member?  
“I am okay with it, “ Yoobin said. She probably knew about it already, after all, she and Yoohyeon were best friends- or lovers. Siyeon wasn’t sure what they were after the last meeting.  
“Me too, “Bora agreed.  
Minji just nodded.  
Was she the only one who wasn’t really fond of the idea? They were a good group. They all got along well together and Siyeon could imagine them being best friends in the future. What if a new member would change that?  
Nobody seemed to notice that Siyeon hadn’t said anything.  
Yoohyeon smiled and said that she would invite her officially. “I also have a dream to share, “ she announced. “I was in some foreign city with what were my friends in the dream. And I really had to go to the toilet. And everyone was just so annoyed with me because we had to look for a toilet. And when we finally found one, there were no cabins or doors or anything, so all my friends watched me while peeing. It was kind of embarrassing.”  
“I don’t want to interpret anything wrong into this, but couldn’t this actually be about these meetings? You are sharing something really private with us.” Minji shared her thoughts with them.  
“I don’t think it’s that deep. Yoohyeon just doesn’t like people watching her while peeing, probably, “ Yoobin said.  
Bora shook her head. “I like Minji’s theory about revealing something personal better. It doesn’t even have to be about these meetings, maybe it’s about something else? But it would just generally fit really well to the dream.”  
Siyeon was distracted and only half-listening to her group. She hadn’t thought about which “dream” she would share with them today. Should she just tell them a slightly different version from one of her real dreams? Or some kind of movie scene again?  
Minji talked about one of her dreams in which she fell. Just fell. Bora had dreamed about dancing and fucking up the whole choreography. Yoobin had had a dream about her father chasing her while screaming how much he loved her. And then everybody stared at Siyeon.  
So she just improvised. “I had a dream about Namjoon. I was bleeding from my head and he pressed his hands onto the wound and tried to stop the bleeding. But there was more and more blood. And he just kept on saying ‘This is a good thing’ and I wanted to hit him in the face for it.”  
“Who is Namjoon again?” Bora asked.  
“He is the leader of the dream-sharing circle that inspired Siyeon to set up this one, “ Yoohyeon explained for her. “He is some sort of dream expert or something.”  
“This is an easy one, “ Minji claimed, but then she seemed to notice that the others didn’t know about Siyeon’s nightmare. “Or not, because I don’t have any ideas.”  
“There is always blood in your dreams, “ Yoobin said. “You have some sort of problem with blood.”  
“Let’s just… let’s just start working on some choreography. I am in the mood to dance, “ Minji cut the interpretation time short. “Bora, do you want to take over?”  
  
******  
  
Bora was pretty sure that every single person in this room was lying.  
Siyeon, she knew for sure. With the others, she couldn’t be sure, but something was off about their dreams and they did have dreamer energies. All of them.  
Not that Bora was one to talk. After all, all she had ever told them had been lies. They really seemed to believe that she was just a poor street dancer who thought that Siyeon was pretty or something like that. (Siyeon indeed was pretty, but that was surely not the reason why she had talked to her.) And that she dreamed about gigantic teddy bears chasing her. She had actually stolen that dream from some girl with dreamer energy from her building.  
At first, she had thought that joining the group was just a necessary evil. But it turned out to be quite amusing. And the promise of interesting secrets was lying in the air. What more could have Bora wished for? This was going to be entertaining.


	11. Minji

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "She felt kind of bad because she wasn’t doing this for Siyeon at all."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> SLEEP LABS TIME feat. J-Hope and Suga...

Siyeon  
Siyeon [09:02 am]: Namjoon wants me to go to the sleep labs and get monitored while sleeping  
Siyeon [09:02 am]: Do you think I should do it or not?  
Minji [09:34 am]: Do it.  
Minji [09:35 am]: What’s the worst thing that could happen?  
Minji [09:41 am]: If you want, I will go with you  
Siyeon [09:57 am]: Aww you would do that?  
Siyeon [09:57 am]: I am going to ask Namjoon if that’s okay  
Siyeon [10:05 am]: He said yes  
Siyeon [10:06 am]: He said we can come in Monday night if we want  
Siyeon [10:06 am]: Is that okay for you?  
Minji [10:12 am]: Yes. Where and when?  
____

Monday evening, Minji was waiting for Siyeon in front of a hotel, in which the sleep labs were located. This was the perfect opportunity. Maybe her brain activity was going to reveal something about her dreams. Maybe this would help her. It had been incredibly easy to get Siyeon to agree to coming here and taking Minji with her. Luck was working in Minji’s favour for once.   
Siyeon immediately gave Minji a big hug when she arrived. “Thank you for doing this for me, “ she said and Minji could hear the fear in her voice.   
She felt kind of bad because she wasn’t doing this for Siyeon at all. Being there for her was just a positive side effect. “You’re welcome. I am actually kind of excited about this! Dreams are so fascinating.”  
“I am nervous. What if I wake up screaming or something?”  
“The people there probably see these kinds of things all the time. Don’t worry, it will turn out fine.” Minji smiled at her.   
Siyeon didn’t seem to be convinced by that, but she nodded anyway. “Let’s go in, Namjoon’s probably already waiting for us.”

Namjoon was indeed already waiting for them. “Siyeon, I am so glad you decided to come!”  
Siyeon just nervously stared at him.   
“Okay, so, I was not sure about this. Do you want to sleep in a room together or in separate rooms? Both is possible here, even though Minji might have to share her room with a stranger.” Namjoon gave her a quick look before returning his full attention on Siyeon.   
She didn’t even think about it. “Separate rooms. But why does Minji have to share a room with a stranger and I don’t?”  
“That’s because you are my patient and she isn’t. So we don’t really get paid for her, “ he explained. “I will show you both to your rooms now and then you have a quick introduction and after that you can see each other again before it’s time to dream.”  
Namjoon started to lead them down a long white corridor. Minji could imagine a nightmare set in these corridors.   
“Okay, Siyeon, you’re in this room right there. Get settled and just entertain yourself for a bit, I will be right back.” Namjoon gave her a bright smile.   
Minji took her hand when she saw the panic in Siyeon’s eyes. “It’s gonna be alright. If it’s horrible, you never have to do this again. And we will see each other again later, okay?”  
The other girl smiled at her a bit. “Thanks, “ she said before going into the room.   
“I suppose you want to know more about why you don’t remember your dreams?” Namjoon asked her as soon as Siyeon couldn’t hear them anymore.   
“Exactly. Maybe then I can work on remembering my dreams. And be a good leader for my group, “ Minji answered.   
“I wanted to talk to Siyeon about the leader thing, but she didn’t show up to our last appointment. I am very thankful that you got her to agree to this.”   
“It’s only in my best interest.”  
“By the way, I may have found a new member for your circle. She is a bit younger than you and Siyeon, but she’s a sweet girl. She came to me because she had certain problems with her dreams and I think you could be really helpful for her and she would be a really good addition to your circle.”  
“Just give Siyeon her number and we will contact her, “ Minji said. A recommendation from Namjoon couldn’t be worse than this random girl Yoohyeon found on the internet.   
“I will, thanks. Okay, so your roommate should already be here… He is a nice guy.”  
“I have to share my room with a guy?”  
“It’s a member of my circle, so don’t worry. His name is Min Yoongi. You will like him, I think, “ Namjoon said and stopped right in front of a room. “He will tell you everything you need to know.”  
Minji hesitated a bit before opening the door. She wasn’t really all too comfortable to share a room with a strange guy, but the results of this night were more important than anything else. When she entered the room, two guys were cuddling together on one of the two beds in the room.   
“You must be… Actually, I forgot your name. I am Min Yoongi, your roommate for today, “ one of the guys said.   
“I am Kim Minji.” She felt really awkward walking into what looked like a personal moment.   
“This is Jung Hoseok, “ Min Yoongi introduced the other guy. “He will go now.”  
“Will I? I want to stay here and correct you if you say bullshit, “ Hoseok said   
Yoongi sighed “Okay, so. This is what you need to know. You just need to sleep. They will put some stuff on your head and that’s it. Just sleep.”  
“And that’s the reason I stayed here. There is a bit more to it. They will wake you up eventually, I have no idea when. They usually wake up Yoongi every other hour or so, so he can write his dreams down. I can tell you, if you are a light sleeper, you will wake up when Yoongi wakes up.”  
“Why? Is he that loud while writing down his dreams?”  
“No. He just cusses when you wake him up. If you can’t sleep, and this happens quite often here, then they can give you something to help you fall asleep. There are several cameras in this room, I think, but they are turned off right now. Someone will come turn them on later. There are also some mics in this room and someone of the staff is always in the room right next to this one. What else? Ah, there is breakfast tomorrow. That’s always fun because Namjoon will be fucking tired after a long night of work and he will probably break a few things or something. And the people here are always really nice. Plus, the food is delicious. At least sometimes. Sometimes it’s fucking disgusting. Any questions?”  
Minji was a bit overwhelmed by all of this. “I don’t think so?”  
“Great. Wonderful. Okay, Namjoon said we should bring you to Siyeon when we’re done here. Wait, you are part of her circle, right? How is it going?” Hoseok basically shoved Yoongi out of the bed to be able to stand up.   
“It’s fine. I am actually the leader of the group, “ Minji said.   
Yoongi got up from the floor. “Ah, you’re that one.”  
Minji didn’t like being “that one”.   
“Siyeon is such a nice girl. Take good care of her, “ Yoongi gave her a warning look.   
A nod was all she could manage to do.

She woke up three times that night.   
The first time was right at the beginning. She had felt like she had only slept a minute before she heard Yoongi cursing on the other side of the room. He talked to someone for what felt like hours, just quiet enough so that she couldn’t understand what it was about. It felt like an eternity until she fell asleep again.   
The next time she woke up, Yoongi was sitting in his bed, cursing again. But there were no one in the room who could have woken him up.   
“Is everything okay?” Minji asked him.   
“Everything’s fine. Go back to sleep, “ he told her. And she did.   
The third time was because someone was touching her shoulder.   
“Minji.” Namjoon was standing over her. “Stand up. It’s time to go.”  
It took her a moment to understand what was happening. Yoongi was just waking up in the bed beside her. “What the fuck is going on?” he wanted to know.   
“The girls are leaving.” Namjoon said.   
“Already? Isn’t it like 2 am or something?”  
That’s when Minji noticed Siyeon. She was standing outside in the corridor, tears streaming down her face. Minji basically jumped out of her bed, ripping of the things from her head, and ran to her. “What happened? Are you okay?”  
Siyeon just wrapped her arms around her.   
“Everything is okay. I am here, “ Minji mumbled into her hair and patted her head.   
“Can you take me home?” The younger girl asked and took a step back. “I don’t want to stay here, but I also can’t be alone right now.”  
“Sure. Give me a moment.” Minji hurried back into the room, closing the door behind her.   
“Namjoon, what happened?” she asked.   
“I don’t know! Everything was fine, we thought. She was sleeping and we knew that she was having nightmares, but suddenly she woke up and started to cry and scream. And then the only thing she told us after that was that she wanted to get you and go home.” Namjoon exchanged a look with Yoongi. “Can you come into my office later today? There are some things we should talk about.”  
“I am not sure. If you give me your number, I will contact you whether I can make it today, “ Minji said. Whatever they found out about her dreams, it didn’t really matter to her right now. Siyeon was more important.   
Namjoon quickly typed his number into her phone. “Please also contact me about Siyeon’s condition. I feel bad letting her leave like this. Stay with her for the next few hours.”  
“I will.”

The two girls spent the rest of the night cuddling on Siyeon’s couch.   
“Do you want to talk about it?” Minji asked.   
“Not yet.”  
“Okay.”


	12. Yoohyeon

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "Otherwise, she would have dreamed about it, right?"

Yoohyeon’s teeth were itching again. She was really nervous about meeting Handong today. What if she didn’t fit into their group at all? What if she wasn’t as nice as she seemed online?   
She had forced Yoobin to go with her to Happyface way too early and now there were sitting in the studio alone, waiting for the other members to arrive.   
“Did your dreams tell you anything about today?” Yoobin wanted to know.   
“Lately, I have only been dreaming about the upcoming finals. So no. What about your dreams? You haven’t said a word about that in weeks.”  
“It’s alright. I may have had an incident with Karaoke girl… but besides that, it was mostly fine.” Yoobin hated talking about her dreams and her ability, but Yoohyeon thought that it was rather fascinating. Except that it didn’t work on Yoohyeon. They suspected that this was because of Yoohyeon’s own ability. Those abilities were actually the reason they became such good friends.   
Bora opened the door and came in, followed by a strange young woman. “Hey. I found her waiting outside… I guess that’s our new member?”   
“Hello. I’m Handong, “ the girl said, smiling brightly.   
Yoohyeon stood up to greet her. “I am Yoohyeon, the one you wrote with. And the one on the floor is Yoobin.”  
Yoobin waved at her.   
“We are so excited to have you here. This is a very new group, so this is the perfect time to join us,” Yoohyeon said, because she wasn’t sure whether she had already mentioned that in one of her emails.   
Handong smiled. “Is this the whole group?”  
“Oh, no. Two members are missing… By the way, why aren’t they here yet? They are usually always on time.” Yoohyeon looked around the room, as if they were hiding in a corner or something.   
They awkwardly stood around for a while. “Maybe we should sit down, “ Bora finally said and joined Yoobin on the floor. Handong and Yoohyeon followed her example.   
“Can you sing?” Bora asked their new member.   
“I think so.” She laughed a bit. “I was in a musical in high school and I took opera and acting lessons in the past.”  
“Sing something for us!” Yoohyeon demanded. “Something out of a musical.”  
Handong seemed a bit uncomfortable. “I don’t know…”  
“Then let’s sing together! Yoobin, give me song.”   
Yoobin didn’t even hesitate and started to sing. “You’re insecure, don’t know what for…”  
Bora laughed and joined in. “You’re turning heads when you walk through the door.”  
Yoohyeon waited a bit, before taking over for the bridge. And then it was Handong’s time to shine. She rocked the whole chorus, from start to end. Her voice was really beautiful. Yoohyeon couldn’t help but cheer when she finished.   
“That was pretty good, “ Yoobin said.   
“You are all so talented.” Handong was laughing. “I thought this was a dream-sharing group, not a famous girl group.”  
Bora frowned a bit and looked at her phone. “Siyeon and Minji are still not here. Do you think something is wrong?”  
“Did you text them? Maybe they are just running late because of traffic or work or something, “ Yoohyeon suggested.   
“Now that I think about it, neither of them have replied in the group chat since yesterday, “ Yoobin said and took out her phone. “The last thing Minji said was that they were going to go to the sleep labs.”  
“Maybe they are just catching up with sleep or something.”   
Bora seemed actually worried. “I knew they shouldn’t have gone to the labs... Yoobin, call Minji. I am gonna call Siyeon. And we are doing this until one of them picks up.”  
Yoohyeon thought that that was kind of an overreaction, seeing as they were only running a bit late, but she used the time to talk to Handong while the others were distracted.  “I am sorry. Something like this has never happened before.”  
“It’s fine. I just hope that your friends are okay.”   
“I am sure they are.” Otherwise, she would have dreamed about it, right? “How is your lucid dreaming going?”  
“I kind of had one this weekend? At least I knew that I was dreaming somehow, but it was like I was dreaming that I knew that I was dreaming? I know that sounds confusing.”  
“It really does. Why do you even want to lucid dream?”  
“Wouldn’t it just be amazing to control your dreams? Be able to decide what you are dreaming about and what you are doing? No more bad or embarrassing dreams anymore. Just dreams about flying and kissing your crush and trying new things… I think it would be amazing. But I have a long way to go till I will be able to do that.” Handong stared at her shoes. “I have been trying to do it for years now.”  
“Dreams are a complicated thing, “ Yoohyeon said. “But you will get the hang of it, I am sure.”  
Bora and Yoobin seemed to have made no progress with Siyeon and Minji. “What should we do? Does anybody know where they live?” Bora seemed really freaked out by this.   
“Hey, they are twenty minutes late for a meeting, we don’t have to freak out, “ Yoohyeon said. “Keep calling them. Maybe they are actually just sleeping.”  
“Can we contact Namjoon somehow? He has to know whether everything went fine at the sleep labs or not.”  
“Bora, calm down! It’s too early to make a big deal out of this.”  
“You have no idea how serious this could be! This is a big deal.” Bora stood up and started to walk around. “God knows what happened there with Siyeon.”  
Yoobin also stood up. “Both of you, be quiet. Here is what we are gonna do. Everyone, unmute your phones so you hear it if you get a message. Bora, try to find out the number of the video game store and call there to see if Siyeon came into work today. And maybe try getting her address. But use Yoohyeon’s phone, in case Siyeon calls you back. I am gonna do the same with Handong’s phone and the esoteric store. Yoohyeon and Handong, you check out the traffic situation and whether it’s possible that they are just stuck somewhere in the city. And take all incoming calls.”  
Fifteen minutes later, all of them were worried. Siyeon didn’t have work today and Minji called in sick this morning “at an unholy hour”. And traffic wasn’t any worse than it usually was. Yoohyeon thought that Bora was going to explode soon.   
That’s when they all received a single text in the group chat.

DREAM GIRLS

Siyeon [8:43 pm]: Sorry, we won’t be coming today! Everything’s fine. See you Friday.

“Is this all we get?” Yoobin seemed pretty annoyed.   
“At least they are alive, “ Yoohyeon commented.   
“They didn’t even call. They just wrote a text. We were worried sick.”  
“I am gonna go now, “Bora said, already on her way to the door. “See you.”  
Handong hadn’t said a word. “Maybe I should go as well.”  
“You can come again on Friday, if you want, “ Yoohyeon was afraid that all this drama would stop her from joining the group.   
“Don’t worry, I will.” Handong smiled at her. “You alone would be worth coming again.”  
Yoohyeon was probably blushing. “Can’t wait to see you again!” she said awkwardly.  
Yoobin laughed.


	13. Siyeon/ Bora

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "A relaxing beach day, that’s exactly what you need right now. Now, good night. Dream of me.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> one member talks about past experiences with homophobia (very) shortly and a homophobic slur is used

Siyeon felt bad about not going to the meeting. The others had called them over 17 times and wrote countless texts. They had also missed the potential new member that was supposed to be coming today.  
But Siyeon didn’t have the energy to deal with them. And Minji was just sleeping peacefully on her couch, after having to comfort her the whole day. She didn’t want to wake her up, not after she had already caused her so much trouble last night.  
The girls weren’t the only one who seemed to be worried about Siyeon. Namjoon had written her over 20 texts, called 11 times and left two voice mails. She had completely ignored all of it.  
He was the reason she had to leave the labs. She had one of her usual nightmares again, she just vaguely remembered being in a lot of pain. And then she was in the forest with Namjoon. This time, he said that he could end her nightmares forever. She just had to trust him. Then he turned her hellish nightmare into actual hell. And she just knew that he was responsible for it. She didn’t know how exactly he got into her dreams, but she was so sure of it. He was trying to manipulate her using her nightmares, just like he did with the sleep labs.  
Or maybe it was just a nightmare and her subconscious just didn’t really like Namjoon. She didn’t know. But she woke up screaming and crying from all the pain and she still felt like her whole body was burning, even now, hours later.  
She was scared of falling asleep again. She was so sick and tired of the nightmares.  
That night, she didn’t go to sleep at all. Instead, she thought about all of her dreams and a possible solution to get rid of them. When Minji woke up early in the morning, she made breakfast for the both of them and left Siyeon to get ready for work.  
Siyeon called in sick. She couldn’t bear to go to work without having slept at all in the last 24 hours. Her day was just like her night, she stared at the wall and thought in circles. And the following night was just like the day, she stared at the wall and thought in circles. How long was a human able to live without sleep?  
The exhaustion on Thursday was so big that she had to spend all of her energy on not falling asleep. Minji, Namjoon, Bora, Yoohyeon, Yoobin, they all kept on calling and texting her. She hadn’t even bothered to call in sick at work that day. She just sat there and stared at the wall.  
Minji and Bora even came by in the evening, but Siyeon didn’t open the door for them.  
She made it till Friday morning. She kept herself awake with everything she could think of. Different teas, coffee, a cold shower every other hour. Never being too comfortable. Always thinking about the pain.  
On Friday morning, she was really close to falling asleep. But she didn’t want to. She wouldn’t be able to bear the pain again.  
That’s when somebody suddenly entered her apartment. She was too tired to look up to see who it was or to wonder how they got in. They picked her up from the floor and carried her to the bedroom, setting her down gently on the bed. The person lay down next to her and gently patted her hair.  
“No bad dreams, “ a soft voice promised her. “There will be no nightmare. Just you and me. What would you like to do? We could go swimming in the sea. I like that. A relaxing beach day, that’s exactly what you need right now. Now, good night. Dream of me.”  
Even though Siyeon hadn’t slept for days and the fact that she was basically already gone, she struggled a bit with falling asleep. When she finally did, she ended up in a nightmare. This time, she was in the sleep labs, running, just running and running and running.  
And suddenly she went through a door and came out on a beach. Yoobin was standing there, wearing a white bikini and sunglasses. “Sorry, I am a bit late. But I promised you the beach and here it is.”  
Siyeon was awake. She was not tired at all, she didn’t feel any pain, her mind was clear. Clear enough to make the connection between the person coming in and promising her the beach and Yoobin in her pleasant dream. “How did you do that?”  
“You’re not the only one with some secrets about her dreams in this group.” Yoobin smiled at her. “I can basically invite other people into my dreams, I think.”  
“How?” Siyeon stared at her. How the fuck was this possible?  
“I don’t know… I have always done this, since I was a little kid. If I think about a person before falling asleep, they kind of end up in my dreams. And thanks to years of practise, I am a good lucid dreamer and can control my own dreams. My crush in middle school once told me that she dreamed about me in a beautiful red dress, asking her to marry me. And then she just laughed and told me how disgusting her subconscious is for making me ‘a fucking dyke’ in her dream. She thought being gay was some sort of mental illness.”  
“I am so sorry, “ Siyeon said, because she didn’t know what else to say.  
“Don’t be. My ability is actually kind of cool. I can’t always control who comes to my dreams, but I am getting better and better. And look, I can actually use my power for something good.” Yoobin smiled at her again. “You deserve pleasant dreams. I am going to try to invite you to my dreams as often as possible.”  
“Thank you. I am so glad that you are here. But… how did you know about my nightmares? And that I hadn’t slept for days.”  
“We were worried about you. So I tried to invite Minji to my dreams, because she wasn’t telling us anything in reality, but that didn’t work. So I invited Namjoon. And he just told me that he thinks you haven’t slept for days because of your nightmares. He didn’t say anything else, though.”  
Siyeon was still confused how Namjoon was supposed to know that she hadn’t slept for days, but she decided not to let her time at the beach go to waste.  
She pointed at the bloody white dress she was wearing, for whatever reason. “Any way to get me a bikini?”  
Yoobin grinned.

In the evening, Yoobin and Siyeon went to the meeting together. Siyeon was still tired, but Yoobin thought that they should show up to let the others know that she was really okay. She promised her a dream in a foreign country that night. “That’s gonna be a lot harder than a beach… But I will try my best.”  
“Do the others know about your ability?” she asked before entering the studio.  
“Yoohyeon does. The rest has no idea. I picked you up on my way here, okay? I don’t want to tell them the truth. Not yet.”  
Siyeon nodded and then went in. Yoohyeon immediately hugged her. “Siyeon! You are okay! We were so worried about you.”  
Minji hugged Siyeon from the other side. “I am so glad everything is okay.”  
Bora and a strange girl Siyeon didn’t recognize just stood there and watched their group hug. When they ended the hug, Siyeon went to greet their potential new member, as she assumed. “I am Siyeon. Sorry for everything that happened on Tuesday.”  
“It’s fine. I am Handong.” The young woman smiled at her. “I just hope you are feeling better now.”  
Bora sat down on the floor when Yoobin entered the room. “Are we going to start this meeting or not?”

******

She wanted to kill Siyeon for just walking into the studio with Yoobin, smiling like nothing had happened. Bora had been really worried. Not receiving any message from Siyeon had driven her crazy. That girl hadn’t been sleeping for three days and she came in looking just fine, not saying a word about how she had been and what had happened at the sleep labs.  
And then she just went ahead and told them the biggest bullshit she had ever told them. “I had this dream where I was at this beautiful beach. The sea was so blue and everything was so peaceful… I can’t remember the last time I dreamed something so nice.”  
As if Siyeon, a paincatcher, would ever, in her whole life, have dream about just being at a beach.  
Bora didn’t share a dream this time. She just told them that she hadn’t dreamed anything interesting. It wasn’t really a lie. She had spent all her sleeping time trying to reach Siyeon. She had slept a lot over the last few days, but never more than two or three hours. This night, she would have to go see the dreams of the girl from her building again. They were always so entertaining. And the girl always slept a lot, so that was a big plus. She could just visit her dreams and enjoy the show for a whole night. Those were always the most refreshing nights. It was just impossible to get a good night’s sleep while seeing Siyeon’s nightmares.  
She wished she could just forget about Siyeon and the rest of the group and move on with her life. But that was impossible. She couldn’t leave now.


	14. Minji

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "No dreams. No dreams. No dreams."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> a shitty scene with Namjoon and an even shittier scene with Gahyeon in which Minji is 100% me

“How is Siyeon?” Namjoon wanted to know as soon as Minji had walked into his office.   
“Fine, “she said. She was still slightly worried about her after what had happened on Monday, but at the meeting yesterday she seemed to be doing all right. Minji just wished Siyeon would talk more to her about what was going on, what happened in the sleep labs, about anything. “What about my results from Monday?”  
“Well… you seemed to have not dreamed at all.” Namjoon nodded at a piece of paper on his table. “We recorded unusually low brain activity.”  
Minji just stared at him. No dreams at all?  
“To really say that you do not dream at all, we would have to observe you for years. And then it still wouldn’t be completely sure. But the possibility that you do not dream at all does exist.”  
No dreams at all.   
“I have seen this before. I know people who do not dream at all. And this is not a bad thing. It’s also not impossible to be part of a dream-sharing circle while not having dreams of your own at all. In my opinion, you should still step back from being the leader of the circle though. I just don’t think that’s the best idea if you really do not dream at all.”   
No dreams. How was that possible? Minji had always believed that she really did dream, but just couldn’t remember her dreams. She had always thought that she would find the missing part of herself if she just remembered her dreams. Now she would always be incomplete.   
No dreams. No dreams. No dreams.   
“This is just a possibility. We can’t say anything after one night of observation.” Namjoon said. “Don’t worry, maybe you do dream.”  
Minji still didn’t say a word.   
No dreams at all.  
\--------

Minji stared at the girl in front of her. She had never seen such an adorable human being in her whole life before. Okay, maybe she had, but this girl definitely belonged to the cutest of the cutest.   
“I am Lee Gahyeon, “ she said.   
“Lee Gahyeon, “ Minji repeated. “I am Kim Minji.”  
 Then she just continued staring. She couldn’t let this girl into their group. She had always been the cute one of the group, at least she liked to think so. Also, she didn’t know if she would be able to concentrate around this ball of cuteness.   
“I want to join your dream-sharing circle, “ she declared confidently. Minji was screaming internally.   
“Sing and dance for me.”  
“What?” Gahyeon blinked at her full of confusion. “Sing and dance? Are you like BTS?”  
Apparently, Namjoon had also taken her to one of their meetings. Minji nodded. “Everyone is really talented in our group. So show me what you got.”  
“Right here?” Gahyeon looked around the café they were in. “In public?”  
Minji didn’t really think that through. “Okay. You can come to one of our meetings and we will decide if we want you in our group or not.”  
Gahyeon jumped a little on her chair. She seemed really excited. “That’s so cool!”  
Minji really enjoyed her time with Gahyeon. It was hard not to make weird noises sometimes when Gahyeon did adorable things, but besides that, she was easy to get along with. She made her laugh a lot, for example when she showed Minji her “Spongebob laugh”. Her taste in music also seemed to be pretty good. Overall, Namjoon had been right. She really was perfect for their group.   
When they said goodbye, Minji had basically already adopted her as a new member.

DREAM GIRLS

Minji [07:33 pm]: She is so cute!  
Minji [07:33 pm]: Just imagine the cutest thing you have ever seen but ten times cuter.   
Minji [07:33 pm]: That’s how cute she is.  
Siyeon [08:01 pm]: Since when do we base our decision on new members on their cuteness?  
Minji [08:10 pm]: She’s also nice or something like that.  
Yoohyeon [08:22 pm]: Wait I thought Minji was just in our group because of her cuteness  
Yoohyeon [08:22 pm]: Guess we don’t need her anymore now that we have someone even cuter who’s also nice or something like that  
Yoohyeon [08:32 pm]: HANDONG IS JOINING US it’s official  
Yoobin [08:34 pm]: how is it official if we haven’t even talked about it?  
Yoohyeon [08:35 pm]: OPINIONS ON LETTING HANDONG JOIN OUR GROUP?  
Siyeon [08:40 pm]: She was nice  
Yoohyeon [08:41 pm]: Two in favour  
Yoobin [08:43 pm]: She was… fine, I guess  
Yoohyeon [08:45 pm]: Three in favour, vote is closed, the majority decided to accept Handong  
Unknown Number was added to group  
Unknown Number [08:50 pm]: Hey guys, it’s me, Handong  
Unknown Number [08:50 pm]: I am thrilled to be part of this group!  
Unknown Number [08:50 pm]: Thank you for letting me join :)  
Yoohyeon [08:51 pm]: You’re welcome  
Yoobin [08:53 pm]: I am Yoobin, the cool one  
Siyeon [08:56 pm]: I am Siyeon, the one who caused all the problems  
Minji [09:00 pm]: I am the leader, Minji  
Yoohyeon [09:03 pm]: I don’t have to tell you that I am the pretty one, right?  
Handong [09:10 pm]: You definitely don’t ;)  
Yoobin [09:13 pm]: Can somebody tell me why I was in favour of letting her join?  
Bora [10:06 pm]: I am Bora


	15. Yoohyeon / Yoobin

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "Yoobin had never felt gayer."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> SHORT CHAPTER AGAIN but basically all the chapters are short so

Everyone in the group simultaneously decided to adopt Gahyeon. They didn’t even need to talk about it. The decision was made after the first five minutes with the girl.   
Gahyeon sang a part of “Blue Moon”  for them. Her voice was out of this world. Yoohyeon couldn’t wait to sing a duet with her and was maybe already thinking about which song would fit good to their voices.   
The only one who didn’t seem very fond of Gahyeon was Bora. Even Yoobin was appreciating her cuteness, but Bora just sat there and stared at the girl with a blank face.   
“Who has a dream to share?”, Minji asked after the excitement over their new member had calmed down a bit.   
Gahyeon raised her hand. “I had a really cool dream! So I was on some sort of rollercoaster, but it was just this thing were you put in your feet and the rest of your body was just … hanging there. And you were upside down a lot, but being upside down wasn’t that bad, compared to being the right way round. It was just so hard to keep your upper body … up. And I was wearing this pink cowboy boots I owned as a child. I wear them a lot in my dreams. But they just became bigger and bigger during the rollercoaster ride and then finally, I fell out of them and I just fell and fell…”  
Yoohyeon immediately had an idea. “Listen to this. So, the rollercoaster is a symbol for life or just some problem or something that Gahyeon is facing. And it’s really difficult, but there is this thing that’s supposed to keep you alive at least. But it isn’t working for Gahyeon because of her boots. And I think it’s kind of like in Bora’s dream… The boots are a symbol for Gahyeon’s childhood. The weird thing is that the shoes are becoming bigger and bigger… Well, I haven’ t thought about that. Either way, I think it means that she is losing the inner child or something and that’s what’s causing her to fall.”  
“I think it’s the other way around. It could mean that Gahyeon is still like a child. Her boots are growing, because they want to grow with her, but Gahyeon isn’t. She is still a child. And that’s why she is falling in the end, “ Yoobin said.   
Minji nodded. “That makes sense. Maybe that’s a fear of Gahyeon… that not growing up is going to be her end.”  
Gahyeon was nibbling the skin from her finger nails, but she was also smiling a bit. “I am like a child sometimes.”  
“That’s not a bad thing. It’s fine to be a bit child-like sometimes, “ Minji said.   
“Sometimes, “ Bora repeated. It was probably the first word she said today, beside her name in the beginning.   
The next one to tell them about one of her dreams was Minji. “I had a dream about tarot, I think. I had several swords sticking in my body, my fingers were replaced by wands and my skin was covered in coins. But there were no cups. Not a single cup in my dream.”  
“How the hell are we supposed to interpret that? I wouldn’t have even known that this could be related to Tarot if you hadn’t said so, “ Yoobin said.   
Minji shrugged. “Swords are generally about pain, coins about wealth and wands about creativity or something like that. And cups are about relationships.”  
“So you are lonely. But you are wealthy and creative and also in a lot of pain? I think it’s really interesting that your dreams are often about body parts being replaced.” Yoohyeon couldn’t really think of a reason why somebody would dream about having body parts replaced. Especially not in that context.   
“I would get the thing about the wands if you were an artist. Maybe you want to be an artist? Have you ever tried something like that?” Siyeon asked.   
“Maybe it’s not about the things that are there, but just about the missing cups. I think it’s about loneliness, “ Handong said.   
Minji seemed kind of uncomfortable. “Who else wants to share a dream with us?”  
*********

While Siyeon took in the view, Yoobin just thought about how much she would love to take Siyeon here in reality. To be able to take a picture of her in right this moment would be amazing. Siyeon had never looked more beautiful. And Yoobin had never felt gayer. Okay, she definitely had, but that was not the point.   
“You don’t know how thankful I am that you are letting me into your dreams, “ she said.   
“I would feel really bad knowing that you were having nightmares while I was looking at a view like this.”  Yoobin had invited Siyeon to her dreams every night since Friday. And when they saw each other today, it was the first time since they met that Siyeon actually looked like she had slept in the last 100 years. And Yoobin was responsible for it.   
It felt so good to use her ability for something good.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> if you like this piece of shit, leave a comment because I love comments (maybe with some theories about the story? Or what songs you think 2hyeon should cover together LIKE FOR ME ITS STILL A TROYE SIVAN SONG I JUST WANT THEM TO COVER MY BOY'S SONGS LIKE MAYBE WILD? OR EASE? OR TALK ME DOWN? I'm literally just listing my fave Troye Songs here I am sorry) you should also leave a comment if you don't like it but still took the time to read 15 fucking chapter because theres gotta be a reason for that


	16. Siyeon/ Minji

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "It was time to tell Siyeon the truth."

Siyeon had never been this happy in her whole life. She woke up without feeling weird or scared. There was no pain, no madness in her mind, no screams. She just woke up, sometimes even smiling, fully rested and at peace. And she hadn’t noticed how much those nightmares had been influencing her everyday life and her overall attitude towards things. Now she walked through the world lighter, saw things differently and just felt free.   
And it was all thanks to Yoobin.

It looked like she found a way to get rid of her nightmares. Without needing Namjoon’s help. Well, Namjoon and his damn appearances in her dreams were responsible for getting Yoobin involved. But she just didn’t think she needed him anymore. And she also didn’t think it would be a good idea to continue meeting him after what happened last week.

Kim Namjoon

Siyeon [08:03 am]: I am not going to come see you anymore.   
Namjoon [08:06 am]: Could you come in today, so we can talk about it one last time?  
Siyeon [08:08 am]: Fine. When should I come?  
Namjoon [08:08 am]: Does 10:00 am work for you?

“You look great.” Namjoon smiled at her while she was sitting down opposite of him. “Did you sleep well?”  
“I did.”  
“I am glad. I was really worried about you after last week, “ Namjoon said. “Do you want to talk about what happened?”  
“No.”  
“Then, maybe you want to talk about what changed that you are sleeping so well now?”  
“No, not really.” Siyeon was seeing Namjoon completely different after what she had dreamed about him. She didn’t trust him. Especially not now that she knew that it was possible to visit other people in their dreams. “Was there any specific reason for telling me to come here?”   
Namjoon cleared his throat. “I just want you to know, you can always come to me if you have problems with your dreams. I know I wasn’t a big help for you over the last weeks, but I do know a thing or two about dreaming. Just keep that in mind, okay?”  
“You know I won’t, don’t you?”  
“Yes. But I also know that you don’t know what’s going to come. Don’t let things you just assume to be true blind you from reality. You may need every help you can get.”  
Siyeon wanted to punch him right into his face. Maybe he was just as useless and dumb as the fortune teller she visited what felt like years ago. “I think I will find a way to survive without your help.”  
Namjoon just gave her a sad smile. “If you think so.”  
*******

Minji had been asking the cards for the truth ever since she had met with Namjoon. She just needed to know whether she really couldn’t dream or if maybe there was a way to change that.   
The cards weren’t really helpful. There always were a lot of Cups and a lot of Swords, but never anything she could actually work with.   
After all, she was just some inexperienced wannabe, wasn’t she? She didn’t really feel that connected to the cards. Even after years of practise, she still didn’t know how to read them properly for herself.   
She threw her deck across the room right when her boss came in.   
“Is this about you not dreaming again?” she asked and picked up the cards, staring at one that had escaped the rest. “The Moon. Anything is possible. Maybe you dreaming will be possible one day? You shouldn’t give up. And you shouldn’t worry about it too much. If it’s supposed to happen, it will happen.”  
Her optimism was really annoying Minji today. “I don’t think it will happen.”  
“Then maybe it just isn’t your destiny to dream.” Her boss gave her the deck back and left the room.   
Minji stared at the Moon on top of the other cards. Anything was possible.   
That was the moment she noticed that she had stopped believing in tarot.

SIYEON  
Minji [05:08 pm]: Can we talk?  
Siyeon [05:34 pm]: Sure  
Minji [05:45 pm]: Can I come by in an hour?  
Siyeon [06:04 pm]: If you bring food

It was time to tell Siyeon the truth.   
Minji had decided that while staring at the cards. Siyeon was the person she trusted the most. Siyeon had trusted her with her nightmares. It was time that Minji told her the truth. And maybe Siyeon could help her somehow.   
While they were eating, Siyeon told her about her last days and how good her sleep had been lately. And that she had stopped seeing Namjoon. Minji supposed this was a good thing, because Siyeon seemed to be relieved.   
“So, what did you want to talk about?” Siyeon asked her after they had both finished their dinner.   
Minji took in a deep breath and just spit out the truth. “I don’t dream.”  
“What?” She looked confused. “You don’t dream? What do you mean?”  
“I have never had a single dream in my life. I just… don’t dream at all.”  
“What about the dreams in which your body parts are replaced?”  
“Made up.”  
Siyeon didn’t say anything.   
“I am sorry for lying to you. I was just so excited to meet you in real life and I do love talking about dreams… I have always wanted to find a way to dream.”  
“You have never dreamed at all?”  
“Not one single time.”  
Siyeon nodded a bit. “I wish I could be mad at you for lying, but I get it. I mean, I am also lying to the rest of the group.”  
“Your dreams were also made up?”  
“Yes. You are not the only liar here. We are not the only liars in the group. It was probably the wrong decision to start it in the first place…” Siyeon said, suddenly seeming very sad.   
“It wasn’t the wrong decision. The group is great. And I do want to tell them the truth eventually… but wait, what do you mean? There is another liar in the group?”  
“I shouldn’t be telling you this. But yes, there is. The secret’s the reason I am sleeping so well lately. That’s all I can tell you.”  
Minji thought about the rest of the group. As Siyeon had just met Gahyeon and Handong, it was very unlikely that she was talking about one of them. So it had to be one of the other three.   
What kind of secret was it that it helped Siyeon with her nightmares? Not even Namjoon, an expert for dreams, had been able to help her with them.   
“I have to admit, I am really jealous of you right now. I wish I would never dream.” Siyeon closed her eyes, probably thinking about all the nightmares she had.   
Minji felt a bit bad for telling her about it. It was probably way better not to dream at all than to have nightmares like Siyeon did. It wasn’t really fair that such an amazing human being had to deal with this shit, while she was always whining about not dreaming.   
“The world sucks, doesn’t it?” Minji said, because she didn’t know what else to say and because it was true.   
“Not always.” Siyeon smiled at her.   
Minji thought about how lucky she was to have met Siyeon and the rest of the group. She thought about music and singing and dancing. She thought about food. Her list ended there.   
“But most of the time.”


	17. Yoohyeon / Yoobin

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “It’s not a good idea. This has to stop.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> shit's happening soon and I am excited

Yoohyeon confronted Yoobin the next Saturday. “Please tell me you are not inviting Siyeon to your dreams every night?”  
“What? How do you know that?”  
“Siyeon was always having bad dreams. Then you vanished for a day and just showed up with her for the meeting. And then she talks about a dream at the beach. I know that you always dream about the beach. And then on Tuesday, she talked about another pleasant dream that sounded like one of yours. And again, yesterday. She also looks like she slept really well lately.”  
“Coincidence.”  
“Come on, Yoobin, don’t lie to me. You invite her to your dreams, don’t you?”  
“What’s so bad about that? She was having really bad nightmares and she refused to go to sleep because she was so scared of them. So I decided to help her. My ability is finally useful. Why shouldn’t I use it to do something good?”  
“It’s not a good idea. You will grow too attached to her, or she will grow too dependent on you and your ability. This has to stop.”  
“Did you see that in one of your dreams?”  
Yoohyeon actually did see it in one of her dreams, but it would be obvious to anyone that this arrangement could only lead to pain. “Yes. This will end badly.”  
Yoobin shook her head. “I think you and your dreams are wrong about this one. It’s a good thing. Siyeon can sleep well and it doesn’t cost me anything.”  
“Please, believe me. It’s best if you end it right now. No more dreams with Siyeon.”   
“What exactly happened in your dream?”  
“Siyeon was in pain, so much pain. There were several swords sticking out of her body. She was screaming and crying and it was the worst thing I have ever seen. And it was at the beach.”  
That didn’t seem to convince Yoobin. “Maybe I have to continue dreaming with her to prevent that. I won’t let your dreams influence all my life decisions. And maybe, just maybe, it was nothing more than a dream.”  
Usually, Yoobin was the one person that always believed her when she told her about her dreams. Sometimes she still had a few small doubts, especially regarding different possible interpretations of the dreams, but she always ended up trusting Yoohyeon. That made it worse when she didn’t trust her this time. Pain was on its way to Siyeon and Yoobin. And there was nothing Yoohyeon could do about it now.  
*******

Yoohyeon’s dream had scared the shit out of Yoobin. Because she did believe Yoohyeon. She knew that she was right. And Yoohyeon’s dream always referred to the near future, so Yoobin didn’t have time to think about it.   
She really wanted to stop inviting Siyeon to her dreams. It was the plan. But she couldn’t stop thinking about her. She couldn’t distract herself with anyone else. And so she ended up in Yoobin’s dream that night. And the next night. And the next night.   
Yoobin couldn’t stop it and she grew more and more desperate. How could she bring herself to think about anyone else?  
She didn’t figure it out before Yoohyeon’s dream came true.


	18. Siyeon/ Bora

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "She didn’t know what was going on around her. Maybe she was still at the beach. Maybe not."

Handong and Gahyeon were the new stars of their meetings.   
Gahyeon always had dreams to share. Sometimes even more than one. They were always interesting and entertaining, sometimes even pretty funny. And Handong was just really good at interpreting the dreams of the others. She always managed to find an interpretation that fitted every detail and the situation of the person. It was quite impressive.   
Minji didn’t tell the others the truth yet, but Siyeon hadn’t expected it. She paid special attention to Minji’s dreams now, trying to figure out if there was any sign that they were made up. She compared it to the dreams of the others, just not Yoobin’s, and there was no obvious difference.   
The night after their session on Tuesday, Siyeon woke up in Yoobin’s dream. It was a beach again. But Yoobin didn’t seem to be happy. She seemed to be concentrating on something, staring at the ocean with her eyes closed.   
“Everything okay?” Siyeon asked.   
Yoobin turned around. “I wanted to go somewhere different, but for some reason, I just can’t concentrate enough to control my dream.”  
Siyeon smiled. “Well, there are worse places to be than the beach. Can you create me a Bikini again if you can’t control anything?”  
Yoobin shook her head. “This is not good. I have to get us somewhere else.” She closed her eyes again.   
Siyeon was a bit confused. What was all that about? The beach was fine for one dream. They could go somewhere else tomorrow. But she gave Yoobin the space she seemed to want and just lay down on the sand, looking up at the blue sky.   
That’s when the pain hit her. Then the craziness. And then the fear, the fucking fear.   
She couldn’t breathe nor move nor form a coherent thought. She was just so afraid and she couldn’t do anything and everything hurt and she was the pain, she was pure pain. She didn’t know what was going on around her. Maybe she was still at the beach. Maybe not.   
Maybe she was dying.

The next time she was able to notice anything around her, she was awake again. She was lying on a floor, an old couple standing over her. They were talking, but she couldn’t really make sense out of the words. The only thing she really knew for sure was that she was dying. Because that much pain had to mean that she was dying. Why was she in so much pain? Maybe her nightmares had been a sign for a deadly disease she had and now she would die from it.   
The world slowly came back to her. She was lying on the floor of her apartment and the old couple recognized the neighbours from upstairs. They were debating whether she was asleep or not. She felt like she was screaming. Was she screaming? There was definitely a screaming sound in her ear, but she wasn’t sure whether it was hers or whether it was even real. She was so afraid. Maybe she really was dying.   
There were paramedics. Then she was lying in an ambulance. Then she was in the hospital. And then the pain killed her.  
*******

DREAM GIRLS

Yoobin [03:02 am]: Something’s wrong with Siyeon  
Yoobin [03:04 am]: Something’s really wrong  
Minji [06:34 am]: She is in the hospital  
Minji [06:34 am]: How did you know something was wrong?  
Yoohyeon [06:43 am]: I think we really need to have a talk  
Yoohyeon [06:44 am]: What’s wrong with Siyeon? Can we visit her?

Siyeon was in the hospital. This was the worst thing that could have happened to her. Bora hoped she wasn’t too late. She had heard of a paincatcher who basically turned completely mad after spending too much time in the hospital. A trained paincatcher would be able to handle it, but Siyeon wasn’t trained at all. Hell, she didn’t even know about her ability.   
Maybe it was time that Bora told her, even though her boss specifically told her not to do it. She just thought that Siyeon deserved to know the truth so that she could start working on controlling her power. But how would she tell Siyeon about her ability without mentioning her own secrets?  
She immediately rushed to the hospital that morning. It had been over a week since she last saw a dream of Siyeon. She had been looking for them almost every night, now that she couldn’t go to her safe place anymore. But she could not find her dreams. That worried Bora a lot, because maybe she wasn’t sleeping at all? Or maybe she was just sleeping during the day. Or something had happened to her at the sleep labs.   
And now she was in the hospital.   
When Bora arrived there, she had made a decision. As soon as Siyeon was out of the hospital and alright again, she would tell her the truth. Or at least part of it.


	19. Minji

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "This is my fault and I can’t even do anything about it because of Bora."

When Minji arrived at the hospital at 7 am, Siyeon was already gone. She had just left without talking to a doctor or a nurse. They didn’t even notice that she was missing until Minji wanted to see her.   
The doctors had told her that they had absolutely no idea what was wrong with Siyeon. Apparently, she was screaming that night and her neighbours heard her and went to see what was going on. They found her lying on the floor, screaming, crying, clearly in pain, completely out of it. So they called an ambulance. In the hospital, the doctors had tried everything to figure out what was going on. They were just preparing another test when Minji was coming. Minji also talked to the nurse who was the last person to see Siyeon in the hospital. She had been giving her a pain killer and according to her, Siyeon was in too much pain to notice anything. “I have never seen anything like that, really, “ the woman said. “I think it could be something psychological. Maybe she just pretended to be in pain. That would explain how she got out of the hospital. If her condition had been real… she would have had no chance of leaving this building on her own.”  
Minji had no idea what to do. She called Siyeon’s phone, but it just kept on ringing and ringing. This whole situation was too much for her to handle on her own.

DREAM GIRLS

Minji [07:34 am]: I am at the hospital. Siyeon’s missing.   
Yoohyeon [07:35 am]: What? She is missing?  
Yoobin [07:36 am]: We’re on our way, wait for us  
Minji [07:40 am]: Any ideas where she might be?  
Bora [07:42 am]: Don’t worry, guys, she’s with me  
Minji [07:45 am]: Where are you? How is she?  
Handong [07:50 am]: What happened to her?  
Minji [08:05 am]: Bora?

Yoobin was really upset. “Why would Bora just take her out of the hospital when she is in pain? Maybe they can help her.” Minji, Yoohyeon and Yoobin were sitting in Minji’s apartment in the evening. They had spent the whole day looking for Siyeon and trying to reach her or Bora.   
Minji closed her eyes. “It doesn’t make sense at all.” Suddenly, she was reminded of Yoobin’s text from the night before. “How did you know something was wrong, by the way?”  
“I’ll explain that later.” Yoobin had her phone in one hand and she was staring at Yoohyeon, who was also on her phone. They were probably texting each other, but Minji had no idea what that was about.   
“I think I will go home and try to sleep, “ Yoohyeon announced after what felt like an eternity of silence.   
“How can you sleep right now?” Minji asked.   
“Sleeping helps me clear my mind.” She was already standing up. “You two should try to figure out where Bora lives. They are probably there.”  
They had already tried to figure that out before, just to notice that they didn’t really know anything about Bora. This led them to the conclusion that they maybe shouldn’t have trusted her. She could be doing god knows what to Siyeon right now.   
After Yoohyeon left, the other two just sat around and stared their phones. A single text arrived in the group chat just a bit before midnight.

DREAM GIRLS

Bora [11:54 pm]: Go to sleep. Everything’s fine.

Yoobin punched the couch. “Go to sleep? That’s it? This awfully reminds me of the meeting you and Siyeon missed two weeks ago. It’s just like that but a thousand times worse.”  
“I am so sorry about that, “Minji said. “I fell asleep. That’s why we missed it. It was my fault.”  
“And this is my fault and I can’t even do anything about it because of Bora.” Yoobin let out a long sigh of frustration.   
“How is this your fault?” Minji was confused. What was Yoobin talking about? And why had she known that something was wrong with Siyeon? Was everyone in this group lying or hiding something?   
The other girl just ignored the question. “I am going home to catch some sleep.”


	20. Yoohyeon

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "I had a dream and I saw that you are the solution."

Yoohyeon’s dreams about the future were usually abstract and strange, some easier to interpret than others. They were always weird, they were always just pictures and feelings and words and short scenes, maybe, but never anything like a connected story or reality.   
That night, her dream was completely different.   
She was standing in a forest, a strange man in front of her. He was wearing a suit that seemed to be made completely out of flowers. “Kim Yoohyeon, “ he said.   
“What is this? Who are you?” Yoohyeon suddenly became aware of the fact that she knew that this was a dream. She had never lucid dreamed before. Weren’t you supposed to be able to change your dream if you’re lucid dreaming? Yoohyeon concentrated on the skirt and shirt she was wearing and tried to change them into a pretty dress. Nothing happened.   
“Don’t try that, “ the stranger said. “It doesn’t work here.”  
“Who are you?” she repeated. Why was she dreaming about him? And why couldn’t she change it? Was this a special kind of vision? Would she meet this stranger eventually?  
“Not important. The important thing is that I know how to help Siyeon.”  
Something was wrong with this dream. She had never dreamed about someone telling her what to do. Maybe Yoobin had been right. Maybe even Yoohyeon could have normal, useless dreams. Maybe her subconscious was so desperate for a solution to this problem that she was now dreaming random bullshit.   
“Bora might think that she can help Siyeon because she knows a bit about the dreamer world, but she doesn’t really know how to help her. You have to get Siyeon to Minji, immediately.”   
“What? Why?”  
“This would be so much easier if Tae was here and not cuddling our youngest, “ the stranger mumbled. “If you get Siyeon to sleep within the reach of Minji, everything will turn out fine. Just trust me with this. Just get them to sleep next to each other or something.”   
He winked at her and disappeared.

KIM BORA

Yoohyeon [05:23 am]: Get Siyeon to Minji, please  
Yoohyeon [05:24 am]: I know you think you can help her best because of your knowledge or whatever  
Yoohyeon [05:24 am]: But Minji is the only one who can help her  
Yoohyeon [05:24 am]: Please  
Bora [05:37 am]: Okay.

Yoohyeon knocked on Minji’s door early in the morning. She had debated whether to trust her strange dream, but her dreams were usually right and it was worth a try. Also, if it didn’t work, they could still take her to the hospital.   
“What is it?” Minji yelled out of the apartment  
“Bora is bringing Siyeon here.”  
“What? What do you mean?” Minji opened the door and let Yoohyeon into her apartment. She didn’t seem to have slept at all last night.   
“I talked to her and she said she was going to bring Siyeon here as soon as she could.” Yoohyeon said and threw herself on Minji’s couch. “You are the solution.”  
“What?” The other girl was confused.   
“I had a dream and I saw that you are the solution. You are the one who is able to help Siyeon, “ she explained.   
Minji just looked even more confused.   
“Okay, this is a long story, “ Yoohyeon sighed. “But basically, I have dreams about the future, mostly about possible solutions and outcomes of a problem. And you are the solution my dreams showed me for the Siyeon-situation.” Or better, the solution a random stranger in her dream had told her about.   
“What? How is that possible?”  
“I’ll explain everything later. For now, you should go to your bed and sleep. I’ll let Bora in and we will bring Siyeon to you and if my dream was right, that will help Siyeon somehow. I don’t know how, so don’t ask more questions. Just sleep.” Yoohyeon stood up to push the other girl into the direction of the open bed room door.   
Ten minutes later, when Minji was already asleep, somebody frantically knocked at the door. Bora was standing outside, carrying Siyeon in her arms. On the first glance, she just looked like she was sleeping, but when Yoohyeon looked a bit closer, she saw tears streaming down her face, sweat on her skin and her clenched jaw and hands.   
“Get her into the bedroom, “ she whispered to Bora. She had no idea why she whispered, it just seemed right in that moment.   
Bora didn’t say a word while she carried Siyeon inside the apartment and set her onto the bed next to Minji. They both stared at the sleeping pair for a second, before retreating into the kitchen.   
“Is Siyeon asleep? Awake?” Yoohyeon finally broke the silence.   
“I think she is somewhere in between? But I am not completely sure. It’s hard to tell, “Bora said.   
“Why did you kidnap her out of the hospital? Maybe they could have helped her.” She knew that this wasn’t true, she had seen it in her dreams. Well, she knew that Siyeon was in the hospital because of whatever happened to her because of Yoobin’s doing and she highly doubted that the hospital would be able to help her with that.   
“They had no clue what was going on with her. At least I knew that. I didn’t figure out a way to help her… but at least I was aware of what had happened.”  
“Enlighten me. What exactly did happen?” Yoohyeon asked.   
Bora looked at the floor. “I am not allowed to tell you that.”  
Was she fucking kidding her? Not allowed to tell Yoohyeon what was going on with one of her friends? It obviously had something to do with dreams… but Yoohyeon had no idea what.   
“I know that there are certain people out there that have some… powers linked to dreaming. Is this connected to this power thing?” Yoohyeon asked, trying not to give away too much information on her and Yoobin.   
“You know about the dreamer abilities?” Bora asked. “I suppose you are a dreamer or you know a dreamer?”  
Yoohyeon just nodded, even though she had never heard of the term dreamer before.   
“Let me guess. You are an Eye.”  
“A what?”  
“An Eye. “ Bora pointed at one of her eyes. “As in you can see bits and pieces of the future in your dreams somehow. My sources always refer to it as being the Eye.”  
“I am an Eye, “ Yoohyeon confirmed hesitantly. “How do you know so much about this?”  
“I’m also a dreamer. I have the Sight.”  
“And what does that mean?”  
“I can see other people’s dreams, “ Bora explained. “And when I tried to find out more about what was going on with me, I happened to find someone who knew a lot about it.”  
Yoohyeon and Yoobin had had a lot of conversation about whether there were other people with abilities like theirs out there. Now they had finally found them. Yoobin would be thrilled and spent the next hundred years trying to meet them and learn all about those abilities. “Okay, so there are the Eyes and the ones with the Sight. What is it called when you can bring other people into your dreams?”  
“It’s called Inviter. Yoobin?”   
Yoohyeon nodded.   
“That makes sense. Has she been inviting Siyeon to her dreams lately? That would explain the sudden outburst of pain.”  
“What? I don’t get it. How does Siyeon fit into this dreamer thing? Is she also a dreamer?”  
“Yes. Her ability is a bit… unpleasant, to say the least. She is a so called paincatcher. She takes on the pain of people around her.”  
Yoohyeon looked to the bedroom. “She takes on the pain of people around her? How does that work?”  
“Well, if you had a headache right now, you would probably not even feel it, because Siyeon would take in the pain. And when she is asleep, all this pain inside of her is released because it’s easier to bear if you are asleep. But sometimes, especially untrained paincatchers, they also experience the pain after waking up.”  
“What if she wasn’t asleep right now? What if I had a headache during one of our meetings for example? Would she still take the pain in and release it in her dreams or does it only work if she is asleep?”  
“She always takes in the pain. She probably doesn’t even notice it.”  
“So…if I was shot right now, I wouldn’t feel the pain, but Siyeon would in her dreams? She would feel like someone shot her?” That ability sounded absolutely terrifying. The Eye, the Sight and Inviting weren’t that bad and they could probably all be useful sometimes. But this just sounded like a … nightmare.   
“I can’t tell you how exactly it feels like for a paincatcher. Maybe the pain is not as bad for her? I could imagine that she is so used to pain that there has to be a lot of it to really bother her.”  
Yoohyeon wanted to throw up. “So… when she was in the hospital yesterday…”  
“Yes. Surrounded by people full of pain.”   
Yoohyeon now understood why Bora took her out of the hospital. It had been the right choice to do so. “What happened with Yoobin and Siyeon?”  
“When Yoobin invited her into her own dreams, Siyeon’s subconscious started to build up all the pain inside of her and it was all released in a sudden outburst when it was too much to hold in. That pain plus the pain from the hospital… I have no idea whether we can do anything for her. I was planning on isolating her from anything that could cause her even more pain and just wait till it’s mostly out of her system.”  
“You said something about untrained paincatchers… what about trained ones? How do you train it?”  
Bora shrugged. “I don’t know anything specific about how it works for paincatchers, but trained dreamers are usually able to control their ability a bit. I imagine that paincatchers learn how to block pain or something.”  
“Could I train my ability somehow?” Yoohyeon asked.   
“Well… maybe? I am really not an expert on all of this, “Bora admitted. “Maybe you can control what the dream is about? Like look for the answer of a specific question? I don’t know.”  
“What about your ability? How does it work?”  
“It’s hard to explain it… when I go to sleep, I have this tiny bit of time where I am neither really in the dream world but also not awake. And in that time, I can look for a dream to see. Everybody has this different dream energy and I can pick up on that. It’s like you are quickly falling down a hole and you are touching the walls of the hole with your hands, noticing the differences of the material or something. And then you just hold onto something. Sometimes you end up with someone completely random you might not even know. But once I know what someone’s energy feels like, I can find their dreams again and again.”  
Yoohyeon couldn’t imagine it at all. Falling down a hole? What the hell? It sounded disturbing and scary. “And when you… choose a dream? What happens then?”  
“Well, I see their dream. It’s kind of like seeing a movie right in front of your eye. I can’t do anything, say anything, I am not really there… I can just see everything.”   
All of this sounded like Bora regularly violated the privacy of other people. Yoohyeon wouldn’t want anyone else to see her dreams, they were about her most personal thoughts, after all. “So you never have dreams of your own?”  
“No. I always end up in someone else’s dream. I’ve tried not holding onto someone’s dream while falling down, but eventually, I am too afraid of falling further that I just have to do it.”  
“So you have also lied about your dreams in our meetings?”  
Bora laughed. “I doubt that we have heard one dream that anyone of us has actually dreamed. Except... the new members could be honest.”  
Yoohyeon needed a moment to process everything Bora had just told her, so she went to check up on Minji and Siyeon. They were both lying on the bed, peacefully sleeping. Siyeon looked relaxed. She seemed to actually be asleep right now. No tears or sweat. Just peacefully sleeping.   
Yoohyeon tried to get the events of the last days together. So Yoobin inviting Siyeon to her dreams had caused Siyeon’s brain to “save” the pain for later, somehow? And it got too much, so it all came out at once. She was taken to the hospital because of that, but that only made it worse due to all the pain there. And now she was here, just sleeping next to Minji. How was Minji helping her?   
When she finally felt ready to continue her conversation with Bora that was the first thing she asked her. “Is Minji also a dreamer? How is she able to help Siyeon?”  
Bora shrugged. “I am not sure. I have never heard about an ability that can help a paincatcher, but I know very little about dreamers. I guess she has to be a dreamer, because I think our dream-sharing group is just the start of a dreamer circle.”  
“A dreamer circle? You mean everyone in our circle is a dreamer with some kind of ability?”  
“Yes. I am not sure about it, but I have heard rumours about those kind of circles existing. According to some untrustworthy sources, several dreamers can form a link and that has some positive effect on their abilities or something like that.”   
“A dreamer circle, “ Yoohyeon repeated. “I think my head is going to explode.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> a longer chapter with some explanations... tell me what you think!


	21. Siyeon/ Bora

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "Bora had explained everything to her."

Siyeon woke up in Minji’s arms. Had she been in a coma? She hadn’t dreamed at all. She had just slept.   
Minji was already awake and on her phone. “Good morning, “ she said when she noticed Siyeon moving. “How’s the pain?”  
It took her a moment to remember what pain she was talking about. There was the vague memory of lying on the floor of her apartment, then being brought to the hospital… and then just hell. “I don’t feel anything.”  
“That’s good.”  
“Is this your place? How did I get here?” Siyeon sat up and looked around.   
“Yes, it’s my place. Bora brought you here.”  
That confused Siyeon even more. “Why was I with Bora?”  
Somebody knocked at the door and Yoohyeon and Bora came in. Yoohyeon immediately ran to the bed and hugged Siyeon. “I was so worried. How are you feeling? Are you still in pain?”  
Siyeon smiled a bit. “I am fine.”  
“I am glad, “ Bora said, still standing at the door.   
“Can somebody please explain what happened?” Siyeon asked.   
Yoohyeon and Bora shared a look.

An hour later, Siyeon was crying in Minji’s kitchen.   
Bora had explained everything to her.   
That some people, so called dreamers, had special abilities linked to dreaming, which was not new for Siyeon after what had happened with Yoobin.   
That Siyeon was one of them.   
That Siyeon was a paincatcher.   
And then Bora had told her everything she knew about paincatchers, which was not a lot. That was the moment everything got too much for her and she started crying.   
All her life, she had been taking on the pain of other people. Every single one of her nightmares was just the pain of someone else being released inside of her. And there was no way to stop it. Her body would always take in random stranger’s pain.   
This was all a bit too much for her right now.   
Minji was sitting opposite of her, holding her hand. “It’s gonna be alright. I don’t know what I did to help you, but I will do everything I can to continue helping you with this.”  
Siyeon managed to smile at her a bit. “Thank you.”  
“By the way, is this what happened at the sleep labs? You took in too much pain or something?”  
Namjoon. He was also a dreamer. And he had to know about her ability. That’s what he had meant when he said he knew a thing or two about dreaming. Was that the reason why he had been so eager to get her to go to the sleep labs? Did he somehow use her ability against her to make her pain worse and manipulate her to go there in the first place?  
Maybe he was right. Maybe she really needed his help. Bora just didn’t seem to know too much about dreamers. But on the other hand, if he really did manipulate her… she shouldn’t trust him.   
“Siyeon?” Minji seemed worried.   
She smiled. “I think I am ready to continue my talk with Bora.”  
*******

Bora felt like she had spent years talking. She had told the others a big part of her secrets. After she had explained everything to Yoohyeon, she had to explain it to Minji and Siyeon a few hours later. And then they forced her to go meet with Yoobin and explain it to her.   
Yoobin just sat there, no reaction. “So I’m an Inviter and Siyeon is a Paincatcher? And when I invite her to my dreams that’s like putting a band aid on a stab wound?”  
“A correct comparison would be…” Bora struggled a bit with finding something that made sense. “Siyeon is a balloon into which somebody or something is constantly blowing air, but usually, she has holes through which the air can escape. You inviting her to your dreams closes these holes, but there is still air being blown into her… and you know what happens to the balloon eventually.”  
“Makes sense… so what exactly is Minji doing that is helping Siyeon?”  
Bora had no idea, so she just shrugged. She would ask her sources about it later. For now, she just wanted to sleep and see the dreams of the girl in her building.   
That’s when she remembered that this wasn’t a good idea anymore. Why did that fucking girl have to join her dream-sharing group? Where should she find someone with equally as pleasant dreams as hers?   
“So, what’s your ability?” Yoobin asked.   
Bora wanted to punch something.


	22. Minji

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "Maybe this was the missing piece of her."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If anyone has been wondering what the fuck the title of the fic is about, it's out of this chapter.

By their next meeting on Friday, everyone except Gahyeon and Handong knew what was going on. Bora had shared almost all her knowledge about dreamers with them. Besides Eyes, the Sight, Inviter and Paincatchers, there were also so called Influencers. Their ability only worked if they were awake and they could consciously influence the dreams of other people. Bora had described this as “useful as fuck” because you could easily manipulate someone through always showing them certain things in their dreams. Minji wasn’t all too comfortable with knowing that this ability was out there.  
Bora didn’t really know much about dreamers. Some vague legends about dreamer circles, but nothing concrete. And she had absolutely no clue what Minji’s ability was, she was just sure that she was a dreamer.  
“I just don’t know if there are dreamers that don’t dream?” she had said. “I mean, Influencers have normal dreams when they sleep… but no dreams at all?” When Minji had asked her why she was so sure that she was a dreamer, she replied with: “Well, your energy just feels like the energy of a dreamer. And if you were just a normal human… there is no way you could have helped Siyeon.”  
Knowing that she was a dreamer and that her ability, whatever it was, helped Siyeon, made Minji feel a lot better about not having dreams. Maybe this was the missing piece of her. But she still needed to know what was exactly going on with her.

CONFIRMED DREAMERS

Minji [03:54 pm]: Maybe we should come up with a code so you can tell us if they are dreamers or not  
Yoohyeon [04:03 pm]: THIS IS EXCITING I am gonna come up with the code  
Yoohyeon [04:03 pm]: Okay so you are gonna tell us a dream  
Yoohyeon [04:05 pm]: Gahyeon is a dreamer- there is something pink in the dream  
Yoohyeon [04:05 pm]: Handong is a dreamer- there is a bird in the dream  
Yoohyeon [04:06 pm]: If neither of them is one, just say you haven’t dreamed anything interesting  
Yoobin [04:12 pm]: I still don’t really get how the energy thing works?  
Yoohyeon [04:15 pm]: Dreamers have a different energy than normal people  
Yoobin [04:17 pm]: Wow thank you I wouldn’t have gotten that  
Yoobin [04:17 pm]: Bora already knows Handong and Gahyeon, so why didn’t she already read their energies?  
Bora [04:35 pm]: nice code  
Bora [04:37 pm]: Telling someone’s energy is not that easy  
Bora [04:38 pm]: People tend to hide their energies and only show it when they are really comfortable  
Bora [04:40 pm]: I already think Gahyeon is a dreamer because her energy is just… there  
Bora [04:40 pm]: Handong though… She really hides it well. I’ll try to concentrate on it a bit more today, just make her feel comfortable and get her to talk about her dreams  
Bora [04:41 pm]: that always makes the energies clearer to read  
Bora [04:41 pm]: See you later.

Siyeon and Minji went to the meeting together. Last night, they both had slept together again, to make sure that Siyeon was really okay. Minji was a bit worried that it would end similarly to the Yoobin-situation and that she was only harming Siyeon, but Yoohyeon was convinced that it wasn’t like that.  
Gahyeon was, as usually, the first one to share a dream. “I recently had this really cool dream… There were these new shoes you could float with. And I was just floating around in the dream, through a beautiful scenery with flowers and the sun was out, but it wasn’t too warm… it was like one of those soft, perfect moments. And when I woke up, I could still remember the feeling of floating around with the shoes.” She was smiling a bit. “I can still imagine it now.”  
Handong was the first to come up with a possible interpretation. “The floating is not quite like flying, but maybe the wish to fly is there, but you just can’t really take off. Something’s keeping you down. And well, flying is probably a symbol for freedom. So maybe… this is hard… maybe you want to be free and you are a bit freer, but you can’t quite take off?”  
“Everything in the dream is so positive though. Maybe the floating is about being free, but still kind of bound to earth and its beauty. And it’s also safer than flying, “ Yoohyeon said.  
Minji was staring at Bora, waiting for a sign from her, but she just looked at Gahyeon with a blank face.  
“What about you, Handong? Do you have a dream to share? Did you lucid dream recently?” Minji asked the other girl.  
“I actually did. I had a dream about running away from something when I realized that I was dreaming. So I stopped running and picnicked. It was the most control I have ever had over my own dreams. It was really amazing. And then yesterday, I dreamed about my job and I intuitively did the thing with the clock I do in reality all the time, where I look at the clock, look away and then check the time again to see if there are any impossible time differences. And the time jumped from 7 am to something completely different. I woke up shortly after that.”  
There was nothing to interpret here, as Handong hadn’t really told them about the dreams, just about the lucidity. Minji wondered whether she was lying as well, now that she knew that everyone out of the original five had been lying. Were Gahyeon and Handong also lying or could it possibly be that they were telling the truth?  
“That’s so exciting!” Yoohyeon commented the dream.  
As the leader, Minji decided it was time to move on. Hopefully Bora had already been able to read Handong’s energy in that short time. “Who else wants to share a dream?” Maybe they were all a bit too obviously staring at Bora.  
She raised her hand. “I had a dream about being here with all of you. But you all weren’t human but enormous flamingos? It was the weirdest thing. I danced to ‘BANG BANG BANG’ with a bunch of fucking flamingos.”  
It took Minji a moment to remember their code and what the flamingos meant.  
They all started to laugh. “That’s your dream?” Yoohyeon said. “We were gigantic flamingos? I was probably the most beautiful one.”  
Handong was the only one who took the dream seriously. “Do you have any special link to flamingos? I have to admit, I don’t really know much about them or whether they could be a symbol for something. So either you just think we are really weird or abnormally bad dancers.”  
“Hey, your flamingo-selves were better than all of you in reality.”  
Minji tried to catch Bora’s eyes. What were they supposed to do now? They hadn’t really talked about what they would do if both of them were dreamers. Should they talk to them about it right now? Or wait? What was she supposed to do?  
Siyeon was the first to act. “Handong, Gahyeon. There is something we should talk about.”  
“What?” Gahyeon was shocked and seemed a bit nervous. “What is going on?”  
“Do you know what a dreamer is?” Bora asked.  
Gahyeon’s expression gave her away immediately. She knew what a dreamer was. She clearly looked caught.  
Handong just seemed confused. “Isn’t it just a person who has dreams?”  
“That’s not what we mean by it. We mean a person who has a certain ability linked to dreaming. To take myself as an example, I am an Eye.” Yoohyeon said.  
Gahyeon gasped. “You are also a dreamer?”  
“Me too, “Bora announced. Yoobin just raised her hand, followed by Siyeon. After a moment, Minji did as well.  
“I have no idea what is going on. What the hell is an Eye? What kind of abilities?” Handong just looked around the room. “Wait. Is this why all of you feel different than other people?”  
That caught the girls off guard.  
“We feel different than other people?” Yoobin repeated.  
Minji shared a look with Siyeon.  
“Try to describe what you are feeling exactly, “ Bora demanded.  
“It’s hard to put into words. It’s like a smell, but I don’t smell it, it’s a taste, but I don’t taste it…”  
“… and you don’t see it, don’t hear it, it’s like you have sixth sense?” Bora clapped. “I think you can sense energy. Tell me more, I want to be sure.”  
Handong hesitated a bit. “Well… I always get these feelings from people. And everyone feels a bit different. But you guys… you have this weird feeling about you. It is kind of like energy. Siyeon, for example, feels … I have to try it with associations. She feels dark and painful, something you should be afraid of, like a knife or something. Whereas Minji is completely different, but there is the same kind of power to it. It’s clear and sharp, honest, logical. Dangerous. And really strong.”  
Minji was really confused. That was her energy? Clear, sharp, honest, logical, dangerous? The first thing that came to her mind was the Queen of Swords.  
“You actually can sense energy clearly…” Bora seemed to be really impressed. “I myself can sense energy a bit, but it’s really blurry.”  
“I still don’t understand. What is an Eye? What abilities are there? How do you become a dreamer? And why do you think I am one?” Handong fired away her questions.  
“The last one is easy. As I said, I can sense energy a bit and I sensed your dreamer energy today. At least, I think so. You hide your energy really well. But seeing as you can sense energies… you have to be a dreamer.”  
“And an Eye is a person who sees the future in her dreams or the possible outcome of a situation at least. That’s what I do, “ Yoohyeon explained grinning.  
“We know of five abilities. The first on is the Eye, “ Minji pointed at Yoohyeon. “The second one is the Sight.” Bora raised her hand. “It means that you can see other people’s dreams.”  
Yoobin took over. “The third one is Inviting. If I think about someone while falling asleep, they end up in my dream. Then there is Influencing, which none of us have, where you can make other people dream about certain things.”  
Then nobody said anything, they all just carefully looked at Siyeon.  
“What’s the fifth one?” Handong asked.  
“Paincatching, “ Gahyeon answered. “It’s when someone takes on the pain of other people and releases it in nightmares… It’s complicated.”  
Handong took a look at Siyeon, before returning to her questions. “So how do you become a dreamer?”  
“You are born with it, I think, “ Bora said. “And it starts to develop during childhood or puberty, but that’s different for everyone, I assume.”  
“What is your ability?” Handong wanted to know and looked at Minji.  
She just shrugged. “We actually don’t know. I have never had a dream in my life.”  
Gahyeon gasped again. Everyone turned to her. “You have lied to us all this time?”  
“Everyone who has ever lied in this room, raise your hand, “ Siyeon said. Every hand went up, including Gahyeon’s.  
Minji looked at their youngest for a moment “The question is… what is your ability, Gahyeon?”  
The girl looked really uncomfortable. “I don’t know?”  
“How do you know that you are a dreamer then?” Bora was frowning at her.  
Gahyeon shrugged. “I know someone who told me.”  
“Who told you?” Bora asked.  
“I can’t tell you that. I promised them not to reveal their identity, ever, to anyone.”  
Bora nodded, as if she was respecting that. Minji didn’t really understand why, she was dying to know who told Gahyeon and whether they could help Minji figuring out her ability somehow.  
Handong cut in again. “Is there any ability that’s just about sensing energy?”  
“If so, then I have never heard of it, “Bora said. “That doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist.”  
“So if you can sense energy… what does my energy feel like?” Yoohyeon asked Handong.  
Handong smiled at her. “It feels warm and hopeful. It’s kind of like a comforting hug. It reminds me a bit of sunlight that is shining through the leaves of trees, right onto your skin. Well, there is some darkness in there. It’s kind of hidden by the light, but right behind it. That part feels uncertain and dangerous. It’s like… you are deeper into the forest and everything is dark and looks the same and you are just not sure where you came from and you have absolutely no idea where you have to go. It feels like being lost.”  
Yoohyeon was also smiling up until that moment. When she heard the end of Handong’s description, she looked like she was about to cry.  “Darkness?”  
Yoobin took her hand. “Don’t worry about it too much, babe. Dark doesn’t equal bad. Look at Siyeon and Minji, they both have kind of dark energies. I am sure I have dark energy. Would you say that we are all bad people?”  
Minji had absolutely no idea whether they were a couple or not.  
Handong looked a bit uncomfortable. “Dark energy is not a bad thing, you are right. But your energy is not even close to being dark, Yoobin. You are the one with the brightest energy in this room.”  
“What?” Yoobin seemed surprised.  
“Yes. It’s not exactly bright, it’s more like a soft glow. Like fairy lights. It’s comfortable and safe.”  
Yoobin smiled a bit. She seemed to like that description of her energy. She was probably the only one who did.  
Minji thought about her energy being sharp, honest and dangerous. What did that say about her ability? What if her power was something bad, what if she could only use it to harm people? What if she already was without noticing?  
Now she felt even farther away from the missing piece of herself than before she knew that she was a dreamer.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> unnecessary information but Gahyeon's dream is inspired by a dream I actually had just minus the beautiful scenery, I was floating around with my shoes in school... and Bora's dream is just something I came up with based on birds and the color pink and one of my fave DC Dance Covers and if I had one talented bone in my body, I would draw Bora dancing to Bang Bang Bang with six flamingos behind her.


	23. Yoohyeon / Yoobin

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "But maybe this wasn’t one of her dreams at all."

Everything was happening so fast. Yoohyeon had had trouble sleeping lately. She just kept on trying to process what’s been going on. Everything that had happened to Siyeon. Finding out that there were other people like her out there and that she was already a part of a group full of people like that. Handong telling her that she had a dark energy beneath her light.   
In the few hours that she slept at night, she kept on dreaming about the same thing. The group, cuddled up in a pile of bodies, sleeping. They appeared everywhere. In her dreams about university, about her family, about how she and Yoobin would run out of milk. She struggled to concentrate during her finals because she was so tired and her thoughts were just running in circles. She had absolutely no idea why she kept seeing that sleepover scene in her dreams. What did it mean? Why were they supposed to have a sleepover?  
She decided that she needed a break from the girls. It was all getting too much.

DANCING FLAMINGOS

Yoohyeon [05:12 pm]: SORRY I won’t be coming today I have to study :(  
Yoobin [05:23 pm]: YOOHYEON? STUDYING?  
Minji [05:34 pm]: Good luck with your finals!  
Handong [05:45 pm]: ah no I miss you :(

Yoohyeon did not study that night. She tried to sleep the whole evening, coming up with some sort of solution for her problem with herself and her thoughts.   
When she finally managed to fall asleep, she ended up dreaming about the stranger again. He was wearing some weird flowing dress. Next to him, there were two other young men.   
“It’s so tiring how dumb you are, “ the one on his right said with a sigh. “You have to do a sleepover with your group. Is it that hard to understand that?”  
The stranger from last time frowned at him. “How hard is it to understand that you shouldn’t say certain things in front of certain people?”  
Yoohyeon was confused. This was clearly not like her normal dreams.   
“What? Certain people who don’t know about certain things won’t really think too much about certain people saying certain things in their dreams, “ the one on the right said.   
But maybe this wasn’t one of her dreams at all.   
“Are you dreamers?” she asked the strangers. She should have gotten that the first time that guy had appeared in her dreams.   
The one on the right stared at the floor. “Or maybe certain people do know about certain things…” he said quietly.   
Middle Guy ignored him. “Yes. How do you know? Who told you?”  
“Who are you?” she asked them. “What are you doing in my dreams?”  
“Not important. You want to become more powerful? Then listen to your fucking dreams and invite your group to a sleepover. Dream over.” The guy on the left clapped his hands and stared expectantly at Middle Guy.  
He shook his head. “You know what to do before we leave.”  
The strangers disappeared and Yoohyeon woke up in pain, screaming.  
*******

“I tried to find out everything I could. A dreamer circle can only be formed by exactly seven dreamers. Their abilities aren’t really important, but most circles contain at least one Inviter because it is easier to form a circle if you have one. I don’t have any specifics on how you form a circle and the thing on what happens with the people in a circle is also a bit unclear. But it is said to make the dreamers way more powerful, “ Bora explained.   
“And you think we should form such a circle?” Yoobin asked.   
“I don’t think it’s a coincidence that we are seven dreamers in our group, “ Bora said. “Some things are supposed to happen and us being a circle seems to be one of them.”  
“But we have no idea what happens when we form a circle. Or how to form a circle.” Yoobin wasn’t too convinced by all of this.   
“I think BTS could be a dreamer circle, “ Siyeon suddenly announced. “You know, Namjoon’s dream-sharing group.”  
“Why do you think that?” Bora wanted to know.   
“First of all, the number fits, seven people. Second of all, I am pretty sure that Namjoon is a dreamer.”  
“Namjoon is a dreamer?” Minji seemed surprised. “How do you know?”  
Bora was frowning. “Wasn’t Namjoon the one who told you to create a dream-sharing circle?”   
“Yes, that was him. It’s just small things, like him telling me that I could always come to him if I had problems with dreams. And I did dream about him and it was like when I was in Yoobin’s dreams.”  
Bora’s expression turned worried. “This is not good. You aren’t seeing him anymore, right?”  
Siyeon nodded. “But I think maybe I should ask him about this dreamer stuff.”  
The other girl frantically shook her head. “No. Do not talk to Namjoon, okay?”  
“Okay?”


	24. Siyeon / Bora

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "I am glad that you came here.”

Namjoon smiled at her. “Being a paincatcher doesn’t have to be that unpleasant.”  
“And how do I make it more pleasant?” Siyeon asked.   
“Well, do you remember Jungkook? He is also a paincatcher. I think he could tell you the best ways to deal with your ability, I can give you his number, if you want.”  
She nodded. Jungkook seemed nice when they met a few weeks ago and she wanted to know everything she could about her ability.   
“I am gonna send it to you. So, what else do you have questions about?”  
“Other abilities. I know about the Eye, the Sight, Influencing and Inviting. Are there other abilities out there?”  
Namjoon nodded. “I suppose you want to know what Minji’s ability is, right? I do have a theory on what her ability could be, but it’s extremely rare and I have only heard of I, never actually met anyone with that ability. I suppose there could be other abilities out there, but the most common ones are the ones you listed just now. I, for example, am an Inviter.”  
“I know. I was in your dreams twice. You tried to manipulate me.”  
“I just wanted to help you.”   
She didn’t believe that, but she saw no point in talking about it. She should use this conversation to get as much information about dreamers as possible. “Tell me about dreamer circles. BTS is one, right?”   
“Yes. Dreamer circles are a group of seven dreamers that are linked through a special bond. It allows them to dream together, makes their abilities stronger and helps them control them. Jungkook, for example, has basically no nightmares now that we are a dreamer circle, “ Namjoon explained.   
“What do you mean by dream together?”  
“We dream together. In the beginning, we had the same dream every time all of us were asleep at the same time. Then we learned to control it and now we can decide if we want to dream together and not everybody has to be in the dream for it to work.”  
Siyeon remembered the BTS meeting she witnessed and how they all had shared dreams that included the others members.   
“And when you told me to create a dream-sharing group… you wanted me to form a dreamer circle.”  
“Exactly. As I said, the circle would really help you with your nightmares and the pain. Honestly, a dreamer circle has only benefits, there are literally no down-sides.”  
“How exactly do you form a dreamer circle?”  
“If your group is compatible, you don’t really have to do much. You all have to sleep at the same time, close to each other. The Inviter can try to invite everyone into their dream at once, which is a bit difficult, but it makes the process a lot faster. You just have to concentrate on each other while falling asleep and eventually, it will klick and you will be linked.”  
Siyeon felt like he wasn’t telling her everything about dreamer circles. Some information was missing. But if it was a way to get rid of her nightmares, she definitely wanted to try it. “So I basically just have to invite everyone to a sleepover?”  
Namjoon nodded. “Or several sleepovers, it doesn’t always work on the first try. If it doesn’t work at all, you can always come to me for help, then we can try different things. Any other questions?”  
“Why did you want me to go to the sleep labs?” she asked.   
“I had to make sure you were a real paincatcher, because certain people had some doubts about it, “ he explained. “I am sorry for what happened there.”  
“How did you do the thing with the pain?”  
“What do you mean?” He acted as if he didn’t know what she was talking about.   
“You took my pain away and then you made it worse.”  
“I have no idea what you are talking about. Maybe the pain just seemed worse after the little pause in my dream?”  
Unfortunately, that made sense. It reminded her of the outburst of pain in Yoobin’s dream. Siyeon wanted to believe that he was responsible for it, but what he said was very convincing.   
“I have a meeting now, but please feel free to contact me with any more questions that you have, “ Namjoon stood up. “I am glad that you came here.”  
Siyeon didn’t say anything.  
********

SIYEON

Siyeon [07:47 pm]: I talked to Namjoon  
Siyeon [07:47 pm]: I know you told me not to, but he knows a lot more than you  
Siyeon [07:47 pm]: He was nice and answered all of my questions  
Bora [07:55 pm]: What did he tell you?

Bora again felt the urge to destroy something. And of course she received that text right before she had to report to her boss, without any time to think about what to tell him. She ended up telling him the truth.   
“She talked to Kim Namjoon again and you let it happen?” her boss said after Bora had finished.   
“Yes.” She didn’t bother trying to defend herself, even though she knew that it wasn’t her fault. She had told Siyeon not to go talk to him, but she did it anyway. There was nothing else she could have done without giving too much about herself away.   
“Sua, this is unacceptable. I know this is harder than what you usually do, but I told you to ask me for help when you have difficulties. Kim Namjoon clearly is a difficulty. We cannot let him have Siyeon or any sort of influence over Siyeon. We have to speed this up. Forget everything I said about being careful and slow. Form the dreamer circle now. I want to have Siyeon here with me as soon as possible. I’m giving you two weeks, understood? And keep her away from Kim Namjoon.”  
She had no idea how she was supposed to do that. She didn’t even know how to form a dreamer circle. But she couldn’t afford to fail.   
“You will have to whole circle in two weeks, “ she promised.


	25. Minji

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “So this is dreaming.”

YOOBIN

Minji [05:04 pm]: Can you do me a favor?  
Yoobin [05:36 pm]: No  
Minji [05:41 pm]: I haven’t even told you what I want  
Yoobin [05:44 pm]: You want me to invite you to my dreams  
Minji [05:45 pm]: Please  
Yoobin [05:45 pm]: I am not doing it  
Minji [05:46 pm]: Please  
Yoobin [05:47 pm]: No  
Minji [05:51 pm]: Please  
Yoobin [05:54 pm]: no.

YOOHYEON

Minji [06:01 pm]: Can you text me when Yoobin is getting ready to go to bed?  
Yoohyeon [06:08 pm]: Wtf?  
Minji [06:10 pm]: please  
Yoohyeon [06:11 pm]: Okay?  
Yoohyeon [10:56 pm]: She just went to her room  
Minji [10:58 pm]: Thanks, I owe you something

YOOBIN

Minji [10:57 pm]: baby good night  
Minji [10:57 pm]: dream of me  
Minji [10:57 pm]: I love you  
Minji [10:57 pm]: Sleep well  
Minji [10:57 pm]: good night  
Minji [10:57 pm]: Yoobin  
Minji [10:57 pm]: Yoobin  
Minji [10:58 pm]: Yoobin  
Minji [10:58 pm]: Yoobin  
Minji [10:58 pm]: Y  
Minji [10:58 pm]: O  
Minji [10:58 pm]: O  
Minji [10:58 pm]: B  
Minji [10:58 pm]: I  
Minji [10:58 pm]: N  
Yoobin [10:59 pm]: Not working. Give up.  
Minji [11:00 pm]: We have to talk tomorrow  
Minji [11:00 pm]: We have kind of a problem  
Minji [11:00 pm]: Please dream of me:(

Dreaming was the strangest thing. It wasn’t really that different from being awake, but it just had a weird feeling to it.  
Yoobin sighed when she saw Minji. “I hate that your spam actually worked.”  
Minji looked around. They were on a beach that could be anywhere on the planet. But it just looked… wrong. Just as the warm sunshine on her skin felt wrong. And the sea breeze smelled wrong. Even the waves sounded wrong. “So this is dreaming.”  
“This is dreaming.” Yoobin was the only thing in the dream that felt right.  
“It’s weird.”  
“Maybe.” Yoobin shrugged. “I don’t know.”  
“Why are we at a beach?” Minji asked.  
“Beaches are unthreatening and neutral. I don’t want people to get suspicious, they should think that this is their own dream. I can change it, if you want.”  
“No, it’s fine. I haven’t seen the ocean in years.” She tried to enjoy the view of the blue sea, but she could only think about how something was off about it. “It’s just weird that there are no other people here.”  
Yoobin closed her eyes and suddenly, a group of people came out of the water. “Yoobin, the water is so nice!” one of them yelled.  
Minji felt like she was watching a movie. “Who are they?”  
“People I know from university.”  
A girl started to run towards them. It was Yoohyeon, but Minji immediately knew that it was Yoobin’s dream version of her and not the real one. “You in for a round of volleyball?”  
After what felt like a few minutes, the beach was crowded with people. There was some sort of bar, a sandcastle contest was going on and Yoobin was playing volleyball with Yoohyeon and some other girls, after she had told Minji to “just enjoy the dream”.  
She tried. She really tried to think of this as a nice beach day. But she couldn’t talk to anyone because they just ignored her and acted as if she wasn’t there. The “bar” didn’t have any drinks and when she tried to build a sandcastle, the sand just didn’t stay where she wanted to. Minji wasn’t the biggest fan of dreaming.  
After that, she tried to play volleyball with Yoobin. At least she was able to do that.  But everything was so wrong and fake, it was absolutely no fun. She just wanted all this fake shit to disappear.  
And then it did. From one moment to the next, the people and the beach and everything disappeared and Minji and Yoobin were just standing … nowhere.  
“What the fuck?” Yoobin said. “What happened?”  
“What is going on?” Minji asked.  
Yoobin shrugged. “I have no idea. This has never happened before.”  
She liked nowhere even less than the beach. It was about time that she woke up and this dream ended.  
Somehow, it did. She didn’t wake up, but Yoobin disappeared, everything disappeared, and Minji felt like she was falling asleep, even though she was already asleep.

“I have no idea what happened. One moment, we were on the beach, and then everything disappeared. I didn’t do anything though. A few moments later, the dream was over, but I didn’t wake up immediately, I think. At least it didn’t feel like it, “ Yoobin told the others the next day. Siyeon had invited all of them to eat lunch together at her place and Minji and Yoobin were sharing their experience from last night.  
“It was the same for me. It felt like I fell asleep again after the dream had ended, “ Minji added.  
Bora thought about it for a moment. “Are you sure that you didn’t wake up in between?”  
They both shook their heads.  
“I have absolutely no idea what could have happened. The only explanation I could think of is that Yoobin was woken up, or almost woken up, by something, “ Bora said.  
“How did it feel like, dreaming for the first time?” Gahyeon asked Minji.  
“It was so weird. Everything felt so wrong and strange.” Minji told them about how she couldn’t do anything except play volleyball with Yoobin.  
“That’s probably because it was Yoobin’s dream. Only the things she paid attention to were really working, “ Handong commented. “That would make sense.”  
“I was really uncomfortable. I just wanted the dream to be over.” Minji was quite disappointed. She had always thought that dreaming would be cool, but it was not.  
Siyeon had finished eating. “I want to talk to you about something. I went to see Namjoon and asked him about dreamer circles. And I want us to form a dreamer circle.”  
Bora put down her food. Her face was blank again, an expression Minji saw quite often on her. “What did Namjoon say exactly?”  
“He said that we have to sleep in the same room and concentrate on each other while falling asleep. It sometimes takes several tries until it works. He said that it’s faster if an Inviter invites everyone into their dreams.”  
“I’ve never invited more than one person at once into my dreams, “ Yoobin said.  
“Have you ever consciously tried to do it?” Bora asked.  
She shook her head.  
“Then you should try it. I mean, if it doesn’t work, we can always try the other way.”  
“So basically a sleepover is the key to forming a dreamer circle? And how do we know whether it worked? What happens if it works?” Yoohyeon didn’t seem completely convinced.    
“Namjoon told me that a dreamer circle dreams together. I think if it works, we will all be in the same dream, “ Siyeon answered. “After that, we will have to learn how to control the dreaming together part, otherwise we will always have to share every single dream.”  
This, all of this, was everything Minji had always wanted. Dreaming every night, having a special power… But now that she had dreamed once, she didn’t want it anymore. She didn’t want to feel that weird feeling from last night every night.  
“I have an idea. What if we visit BTS together? Then we can find out more about our own abilities and what it’s like being part of a dreamer circle, “ Siyeon said. “After that, we can decide whether we all want to form a dreamer circle or not.”  
Bora shook her head. “Absolutely not. We are not going to meet with BTS.”  
“I’m in. Maybe they know something about my ability, “ Handong said.  
Yoobin shrugged. “I wouldn’t mind meeting them either. Namjoon is also an Inviter, right? I would love talking to him about it.” Yoohyeon next to her just nodded.  
Minji was kind of excited about it. “Didn’t you say he has a theory about my ability? I am really curious what he thinks.”  
The only one who didn’t react at all was Gahyeon. She just sat there, nibbling at the skin on her nails.  
“Seems like it’s decided. I am gonna talk to Namjoon about it.” Siyeon smiled a bit. “I know I shouldn’t trust him and I don’t, but talking to them about our abilities can’t hurt, right?” She seemed to be talking to Bora.  
Bora closed her eyes. “I guess.”


	26. Yoohyeon / Yoobin

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "You have to be careful. Inviters and paincatchers can have all sorts of problems, our abilities aren’t really compatible."

They met BTS in a completely white room. The seven boys were already sitting on the floor when the girls entered. One of them immediately jumped up and came to greet them. “Nice to meet you all, I am Kim Namjoon, “ he introduced himself.  
Yoohyeon could just stare at him. It was the guy from her dreams, the one she saw in both of her dreams. She looked to the rest of the group and as she suspected, the other two men from her dream were also there.  
She wanted to leave. Right now. But somehow, she couldn’t bring herself to do it.  
The BTS members were really excited to see Siyeon and Gahyeon again. Yoohyeon just stayed by the door as her friends started to introduce themselves to the strangers. She knew from her dreams that she would end up talking to one guy, but now that she knew that the men from her dream were here, she wanted to avoid all of them.  
“Yoohyeon, “ Namjoon came over. “Don’t be mad about the dream. I just wanted to get you to finally form a circle. Helping Siyeon is my only intention.”  
She didn’t really believe him. “Did you manipulate my dreams somehow? I just kept on dreaming about a sleepover with the girls.”  
Namjoon nodded to one of the guys. “Taehyung did. He is our Influencer.”  
Yoohyeon didn’t say anything. She didn’t know what to say. This was all a bit too much for her. She didn’t dream about Namjoon being the one from her dreams.  
“Come on, I’m gonna introduce you to our Eye. Maybe he can tell you a bit more about your ability.” Namjoon started walking away, probably expecting her to follow him. She didn’t.  
That didn’t save her from having to talk to the other Eye. He approached her, a bright smile on his face. “Nice to meet you, I am Jimin. I am the Eye of BTS.”  
“Yoohyeon, “ she said after an awkward pause.  
“Do you have any questions about our ability? I have been gathering all the information I could about it and I have been training for a few years, so maybe I can help you a bit.”  
He seemed nice and he hadn’t been in her dream. It was pointless not to take this chance to find out more about the ability. “Have you ever had a dream that didn’t come true?”

Yoohyeon enjoyed talking to Jimin a lot. He answered all of her questions and gave her tips on training her ability, for example how she could make her dreams clearer or how she could look for specific answers in her dreams. He was surprisingly open about anything, telling her about specific dreams he had had and how they turned out in the future.  
He even talked about being part of a dreamer circle and what it did to him and his ability. “One thing I had to learn when we first formed our circle was not depending on my dreams too much. In the beginning, I didn’t have any dreams of my own. I was really lost. I had always relied on my dreams before, based my decisions on them. That didn’t always work and it’s not like your dreams show you everything about the future, but I still always had my dreams. I kind of depended on them. So when I didn’t have them anymore, it was bad, really bad, at first. Mostly an attitude problem, I suppose. There was this constant fear that I would never get my own dreams back if I stayed with BTS. I wanted to leave. I was so close to leaving just to have those dreams back… and then Namjoon came to me and talked to me about it. After that conversation, he helped me deal with my problems. And I learned that I don’t need those dreams. And they are also not the only special or good thing about me. I am more than my dreams and I can live without them.”  
“But you have your dreams back now, right?” Yoohyeon asked.  
“I do, but I only use them occasionally. Since I became part of the circle, I can almost ask specific questions and get answers to them. Or sometimes, I just let my dreams wander and show me what I need to see. My dreams used to be really messy and some were pretty ambiguous, but now the meaning is a lot clearer.”  
“What is it like to dream with the circle? What do the dreams feel like?”  
“It’s very different to my own dreams. You always know that you are dreaming. It feels a bit like playing a VR game with your friends, you know? You know that it’s not real, even though it may feel a bit like it. And sometimes, you can do things you normally couldn’t.” Jimin smiled. “I love flying.”  
“Can you control the dream? Who decides where the dream takes place and what is happening?”  
“You can’t control it at all. You can control your actions and do abnormal things, but you can’t control where you are and what is happening around you. It’s a bit like a normal dream, sometimes everything changes in a second. We think that the rest of the dream is influenced by all of us. Like some sort of shared subconscious.”  
“You can also only share a dream with one person, right?”  
“Exactly. Or with two, three or four… once you’ve mastered to control it, anything is possible.”  
“Anything is possible, “ she repeated, smiling.  
That’s when she saw Handong on the other side of the room, all alone. She could have talked to Jimin for hours, but she excused herself to check up on her.  
“Is everything alright?” Yoohyeon sat down next to her.  
Handong smiled a bit. “Apparently, my ability is the stuff of legends.”  
“What?”  
“I talked to Namjoon earlier and he said that he heard about something similar, but he’d always thought it was just a legend. He called it Controlling.”  
“Controlling?”  
“He doesn’t know any specifics. But apparently, Controllers are really powerful and can control a lot in what he called the dream network. Sensing energy like I do is said to be a sign of a Controller. He also heard that it’s the hardest ability to… control.”  
“That doesn’t sound too bad, does it?” Yoohyeon said. “Achieving power through hard work.”  
“It’s just a bit overwhelming. And it’s also kind of frustrating not to know.”  
“I can imagine. But hey, maybe it can also be exciting? You are able to discover the depths of your ability yourself. I’d be glad to help you with that.”  
“Thanks. Namjoon said my powers would become stronger after forming a circle…maybe that will help me figure it out.”  
Yoohyeon smiled. “I am sure it will.”  
******

“Inviting is the most common ability, “ Hoseok, who was also an Inviter, explained to her. “I mean, we have two Inviters in our group.”  
“Are all Inviters equally powerful?” she asked.  
“Nope. Take Namjoon, for example. He can invite up to twenty people at once into his dreams. I tried and the best I can do are nine. But Namjoon often has problems with who he is inviting. He’s gotten better at it with time, but sometimes, especially when he is inviting several people at once, there are some unwanted guests. That’s something that doesn’t happen to me. It’s also important to control your own dreams and not every Inviter is equally good at that. I really suck at that. Namjoon is okay, he mostly sticks to the same things every night. You’ll find out what you’re good at soon enough.”  
Yoobin was pretty confident in the control she had over her dreams. The incident with Minji was an exception. She still had no idea what happened back then.  
Hoseok continued to talk about his ability. Yoobin was only half listening. Until he mentioned paincatchers. “Siyeon is a paincatcher, right? You have to be careful. Inviters and paincatchers can have all sorts of problems, our abilities aren’t really compatible.”  
“What do you mean?”  
“Namjoon and I had some problems in the beginning. With our paincatcher, Jungkook. When we were dreaming together, Jungkook subconscious couldn’t release the pain like it normally did. And for whatever reason, he subconsciously transferred his pain to us. Namjoon thinks that’s because of how open the subconscious of an Inviter is. I have no idea if that’s the truth, I just know that the first two months dreaming together were an absolute nightmare for me.”  
Pain scared her. But then she thought about Siyeon having some sort of break down on the beach. “The paincatcher won’t be in pain, right?”  
Hoseok nodded.  
Yoobin smiled. “Then it’s fine.”


	27. Siyeon / Minji

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "I officially hate BTS."

Siyeon was really tired. She hated herself for bringing up the idea of meeting up with BTS.  
Jungkook had been talking about being a paincatcher for what felt like a 100 years. Her head was going to explode from all the information it just took in. She was glad when Bora came over and interrupted their conversation. It was getting a bit too much.  
“How about we catch some air?” Bora suggested. Siyeon nodded thankfully.  
Outside, Bora didn’t say a word. She just stared at the moon.  
“Did you find out anything interesting about your ability?” Siyeon asked her.  
“Let’s not talk about that now.”  
They both stared at the moon in silence for a few minutes, before Bora started talking. “I feel like the only important thing in my life is dreaming. And it’s frustrating me. Why should we spend our waking lives worrying about our sleeping time? I don’t have anything in my life that’s not linked to dreaming. It’s the only thing that matters. And I hate it.”  
Siyeon thought about it for a moment. For years, her life had been nothing. She went to school, then work. In her free time, she played video games. Trying not to think about what would happen that night. At least now, she wasn’t lonely anymore. She had people who went through all of this with her. Maybe she had even found a way to stop her nightmares.  
“I just don’t think it’s healthy to build your life around only one thing. Permanently, at least. I don’t want dreaming to be the only thing that matters in my life. I don’t know why I’m telling you this.” They looked at each other for a moment.  
“What about dancing?” Siyeon asked. “That’s not linked to dreaming.”  
Bora laughed bitterly. “Dancing is all about dreaming for me.”  
Siyeon didn’t get that, but she didn’t want to ask what she meant. “What about your job? Your family and friends?”  
“It doesn’t matter. Only dreaming matters.”  
She didn’t know what to say. She didn’t know anything about Bora’s life.  
“Let’s go back inside. You probably want to finish your conversation with the other paincatcher.” Bora smiled a bit and just left her outside.

When Siyeon came back in, Jungkook was talking to Gahyeon and some other members of BTS. Minji was listening to Namjoon and Yoongi, Handong and Yoohyeon were still sitting on the floor and Yoobin and Bora were watching Hoseok dance. Siyeon had no idea how that happened in the few minutes Bora went back in before her.  
“We’re leaving, “Minji suddenly announced. She grabbed Siyeon’s hand and pulled her out of the room, without a chance to say goodbye.  
“What’s going on?” she asked.  
“I’ll tell you later. Do you think the others are coming or not?”  
Siyeon looked back into the room, just to see the others running after them. “What happened?” Bora asked.  
“Let’s go to my place, “ Siyeon suggested. “We can talk there.”  
*******

Namjoon hadn’t been able to tell Minji much about her ability. Apparently, she was a so called Dreamdestroyer. Her ability was to stop dreams or prevent people from dreaming at all. Which is how she had helped Siyeon- she had stopped her dreaming completely. Minji didn’t really understand why stopping someone’s dreaming like she did was better than stopping someone’s dreaming by inviting them to your dream, but that was a question for another time. This was also what happened in Yoobin’s dream. She had stopped it subconsciously because she had been so uncomfortable.  
Minji hadn’t really processed what her ability meant for her. Stopping dreams. What did she even need that for? Helping Siyeon with her nightmares was the only useful thing she could think of.  
Yoongi also explained to her what was really going on during her night in the sleep labs. It was not a coincidence that she shared a room with him. He had the Sight, just like Bora. That night, he tried to see her dreams to confirm whether she was a dreamer or not. But she didn’t have any. Which then lead to Namjoon and Yoongi doing some research and finding the Dreamdestroyer legend.  
That was not the part of the conversation that had upset Minji. They hadn’t really talked about it that much, Namjoon and Yoongi quickly explained everything they knew to her. Namjoon also talked about her position as a leader.  
“I don’t think you should be the leader of the dreamer circle, “ he had said. “A dream leader has certain responsibilities and with your ability, I just don’t think it would be the best idea to lead the circle. An Inviter is always a safe choice as a leader, but a Paincatcher or an Influencer could also do it. You should step back as a leader and nominate someone with one of those abilities as the next leader.”  
“I don’t think any of them wants to be the leader, “ Minji had responded.  
And then Yoongi had fucked up. “We could manipulate one of them again. That worked quite well with the Eye. Not with Siyeon, though.”  
Now Minji was sitting on Siyeon’s couch, telling them about the last part of the conversation.  
Siyeon nodded. “I know that they tried to manipulate me. That’s what happened when we were at the sleep labs. Namjoon invited me to his dream.”  
Yoohyeon didn’t look surprised either. “I was in his dreams twice.”  
“Why didn’t you tell us that before we went in there?” Bora seemed quite upset about it.  
“I didn’t know that it was Namjoon until I saw him today, “ Yoohyeon explained. “By the way, is it possible for a paincatcher to dumb the pain on another person?”  
“Jungkook mentioned something like that, “ Siyeon said. “Why? Did he do it to you?”  
She nodded. “In my second dream, Jungkook and one of the other guys where with Namjoon. In the end, Namjoon told Jungkook that he knew what to do and then I felt so much pain.”  
“What exactly happened in that dream? How did they try to manipulate you?” Minji asked.  
Yoohyeon told them about her first dream and how Namjoon had told her to bring Siyeon to Minji. “I thought it was just a strange version of my own dreams, you know? The second time, I knew what was up. He told me to invite you all to a sleepover if I wanted to be more powerful. And then Jungkook did the pain thing and that was it.”  
“I officially hate BTS, “ Yoobin announced. “Wait. Why can Namjoon invite you to his dreams but I can’t?”  
“You can’t invite Yoohyeon to your dreams?” Bora said. “Are you sure that you just never think about her before falling asleep?”  
“I am not sure, but I’ve tried so many times. It never worked.”  
“That’s … unusual.”  
“What about forming  a dreamer circle? Are we doing it or not?” Gahyeon asked. “Raise your hands if you want to do it.”  
Seven hands went up into the air.  
“Let’s try it tonight, “ she decided.  
Minji didn’t know where that energy was coming from. “Tonight?”  
Siyeon nodded. “The sooner, the better.”

When Minji woke up the next morning, nothing had happened.  
She was lying on Siyeon’s bed. She had slept over a few nights in the past days, to help Siyeon with her nightmares. It took her a moment to remember that they tried to form a circle last night. This basically meant that the rest of the group was lying on the floor of Siyeon’s bedroom and that everybody was supposed to concentrate on each other while falling asleep.  
It didn’t work.  
Minji was the first to wake up. She quietly stood up and climbed over the others to get out of the room and into the kitchen. She wasn’t really surprised that it didn’t work. Actually, she felt a bit relieved even. After her first experience with dreams, she didn’t feel ready to try it again.  
She went to catch her bag from the couch and took out her tarot deck. She hadn’t used it for herself in what felt like weeks, but it was still how she made a living. Tarot was the thing she had built her life around. It started as interest in the psychological aspect of the reading, but then the belief in something more grew inside of her. She became a fortune teller because of her fascination for tarot. And then she pushed it away from her, out of frustration- or something like that.  
Now she felt like the cards could help her.  
She held them to her heart, asking her question. Then she shuffled them. The card she turned around was Strength.  
Minji sighed. She didn’t need a card to tell her that she had to be patient and strong. If she wanted to hear that, she would have just talked to her boss.  
Well, it looked like turning her back on Tarot had been the right decision all along. It was just not helpful at all.  
Siyeon came into the kitchen just as Minji was looking for the High Priestess in the deck. “What are you doing?” she asked, getting a drink from the fridge.  
“Thinking.” Minji finally found the card and showed it to Siyeon. “That used to be my favorite. Other people want to be like celebrities, I always wanted to be like a fucking tarot card. Pretty pathetic.”  
Siyeon sat down next to Minji. “I don’t think that’s pathetic. I don’t know a lot about tarot, but I guess the cards can’t be worse idols than some celebrities.”  
“Perhaps not.” That didn’t change the fact that they were just cards.  
The door to the bedroom opened again. “The strangest thing happened.” Yoohyeon didn’t even bother keeping her voice down as she joined them in the kitchen. “I didn’t dream.”

The others reported the exact same thing after they woke up.  
“I can’t remember dreaming, “ Yoobin announced. “What happened?”  
“Well, that didn’t work, “ Gahyeon said. “I didn’t dream at all.”  
Handong had to be asked before she noticed that her night had been dreamless. “That’s not too unusual for me, sometimes I just don’t remember my dreams or something.”  
Bora was the last to wake up, but she knew straight away what had happened. “You’re too strong. You’re way too strong.”  
Minji just stared at the table. She still had her deck in her hand, the High Priestess on top of it, a painful reminder of how unlike the High Priestess she was.  
“Okay, so we have to figure out how Minji can tone down her ability a bit. Make it less… strong, “ Siyeon said.  
“And how?” Bora seemed to be really upset about all of this.  
“I don’t want to be rude or anything, but the easiest way is replacing Minji with a dreamer with a compatible ability.” Gahyeon gave Minji an apologetic smile.  
“Not doing that, “ Siyeon shook her head. “Definitely not happening.”  
Yoohyeon took Minji’s hand. “If you want to replace her, you have to replace me too.”  
“And if you replace Yoohyeon, you’ll have to replace me, “ Yoobin joined in.  
“And me, “ Handong agreed.  
Bora sighed a bit. “I think that Gahyeon might be right… But if you all want to keep trying with Minji, we will find a way to work with her ability. Let me think about this for a moment.”  
“You can think about it the whole day, we are not gonna try again before that anyway. And I actually have to go to work soon.” Siyeon stood up. “Let’s meet again tonight.”


	28. Yoohyeon

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “But we’re trapped in here, there is probably a fire somewhere and we are all going to die.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> the first shared dream and it's weird and I'm not happy with it... but yeah, here it is anyway. Tell me what you think!

Yoohyeon wanted to wake up again.   
It had worked. At least, she thought so, because she was holding Siyeon’s hand and they were running through a dark forest. They were being chased by something, Yoohyeon just didn’t know what exactly.   
“What is happening?” she screamed.   
Siyeon just continued running. “It worked! I think it worked!”  
Gahyeon had come up with the solution. “Minji was in Yoobin’s dream, right? That worked till she destroyed the dream. So, Yoobin, try to invite her again. And then we can see if that changes anything.” So they tried that, two nights in a row. It didn’t work. The first night, Yoobin failed to invite Minji to her dreams, so none of them dreamed at all. The second night, Minji was in Yoobin’s dream, but nothing else had happened. Everyone just went on with their own usual dreams.   
Tonight, it was different. Because this was definitely not one of Yoohyeon’s dreams and Siyeon next to her was definitely the real Siyeon. They were sharing a dream.   
“Why are we running? Where are we?” Yoohyeon tried to look around, but she had to pay attention to the ground so she wouldn’t trip.   
Siyeon was ignoring her questions and laughed. “It worked!”  
They ended up in front of a big mansion. The girls continued to run till they saw Yoobin and Minji in front of the entrance.   
“It actually worked.” Minji hugged Siyeon. “We made it.”  
Yoohyeon and Yoobin weren’t that excited. “Why were you running just now?” Yoobin asked.   
“I have no idea. When I realized what was going on, I was here, running. And it didn’t seem like the best idea to just stop running.”  
“Have you seen the rest?” Siyeon wanted to know. “Are they inside? Or not here at all?”  
“I don’t know, “ Yoobin said, looking around.   
“They have to be somewhere, right? Namjoon said that it only worked with all of them in the beginning.”   
Yoohyeon shrugged. “I wouldn’t really trust Namjoon.”  
“Let’s go in, “ Siyeon decided and opened the door.   
The inside of the mansion was completely dark, except for candles that were lit on every step on a stair case.   
“Creepy, “ Yoobin commented, but she was the first to enter the building, followed by Minji.   
Siyeon seemed a bit panicked, so Yoohyeon took her hand. “It’s fine. This won’t turn into one of your nightmares, I promise.”  
The other girl smiled a bit. “Please don’t leave me alone.”  
“I will stay by your side.”

The first thing Yoohyeon noticed was the smell. It smelled like fire. This had been a bad idea. Behind her and Siyeon, the door shut with a loud bang.   
“We can’t die in dreams, right?” Yoobin said. Her voice was muffled, as she was covering her mouth and nose with her sleeve.   
“Namjoon didn’t say anything about that.” Siyeon was still holding onto Yoohyeon’s hand. “But I guess dying in a dream is impossible.”  
“We should get out of here and find another way in, “ Minji suggested. “I don’t want to die in a dream.”  
Yoobin tried to open the door. It didn’t move. “We’re trapped.”  
“Yoohyeon!” Handong came running down the stairs. “Where are Gahyeon and Bora?”  
She was relieved that Handong was here. Just seeing her calmed Yoohyeon down a bit.   
“We have no idea, “ she answered. “But we’re trapped in here, there is probably a fire somewhere and we are all going to die.”  
“We are not going to die.” Handong smiled at her. “This is nothing more than a dream.”  
“But maybe we can die in dreams? We are dreamers, after all.”  
“We have Minji. If it gets too dangerous, she just has to stop the dream.”  
None of them had thought about that, not even Minji, according to her facial expression. “I could just stop the dream right now…” she said.   
“No. We should at least look for Gahyeon and Bora first. They have to be here somewhere” Siyeon picked up one of the candles from the stairs. “Let’s check this house out.”

They found Gahyeon hanging from a chandelier on the second floor. Bora was standing beneath her, her arms spread, ready to catch her. “Just let go! I will catch you, I promise.”  
Minji immediately ran to them and positioned herself next to Bora. “Don’t be afraid! I’m here to save you.”  
“Minji! I am scared.”  
“It’s just a dream! Trust me and just let go. You won’t die!”  
“They do realize that she is literally like one meter above the ground? They could just grab her legs and let her down slowly.” Yoobin shook her head as she pushed Minji out of the way and did exactly what she had just suggested.   
When Gahyeon was standing on the ground again, Minji made a big drama about reuniting with her. Yoohyeon just shared an amused look with Handong.   
Siyeon turned to Bora. “Now that we are all sharing a dream… what do we do in the dream?”  
“I have no idea. We enjoy being here and being together?”  
Yoohyeon was a bit disappointed. “That’s it? I thought it would be a bit more exciting.”  
“We are literally standing in an old mansion that smells like fire. There has to be something exciting here, “ Yoobin said. “Just hanging out with you in random places also wouldn’t be the worst thing.”  
“We don’t have to do this every night, right? I think I might prefer my own dreams.” Gahyeon looked at the chandelier above her.   
“We will share a dream every night till we learn to control it.”  
Gahyeon sighed. “This was a mistake.”  
“At least we know that it’s a dream.” Handong counted her fingers. “And we have ten fingers.”  
“I also really like the outfits, “ Bora said and pointed at the identical black dresses they were all wearing.   
Yoohyeon also thought they were quite cute, but it wasn’t her top priority at the moment. Because there was smoke spreading around them. “Maybe we should get out of here.”  
Siyeon didn’t even hesitate, she grabbed Yoobin’s hand and just ran towards the stairs. Yoohyeon followed her, assuming that everyone else was doing the same. But when she reached the stairs, Handong was still standing beneath the chandelier, staring at the smoke.   
She called her name, but no reaction. The other woman didn’t move at all. “Come on!” Yoohyeon screamed. “We have to go!”  
Handong said something Yoohyeon didn’t understand. And then the door right behind her exploded. Her first instinct was to run towards where Handong had just been standing, but Yoobin grabbed her hand and pulled her down the stairs.   
“It’s time to end the dream!” Bora screamed to Minji.   
“I can’t! I don’t know how.”  
They stopped in front of the now locked door through which they had entered the building. Bora was immediately attacking Minji. “What do you mean, you don’t know how? Just think about waking up. That worked when you were in Yoobin’s dream, right?”  
“But I didn’t do that consciously. It just happened. And I am already thinking about waking up. I want to wake up so badly.”  
“What if we just run into the flames? We’ll wake up when we die here, right?” Gahyeon suggested.   
Bora shook her head. “Not trying that. I don’t really trust this dream and I certainly don’t want to run into fire.”  
“Then what else are we supposed to do? Just wait till we wake up naturally?”  
“If that doesn’t happen soon, we will have no choice but dying.” Siyeon nodded at the flames that were making their way down the stairs.   
“Minji!”  
“I am trying already!”  
Oh, this had definitely been a mistake. Yoohyeon was worried about Handong. What if they really could die in this sort of dream? If so, did the explosion kill Handong?   
“Why don’t we look for another exit?” Yoobin asked. “This is a big building. There has to be more than one way to get out of here.”  
“Good idea.” Siyeon was already vanishing into the next room. “What about a window?”  
“A window’s fine, “ Yoobin said, following the older girl. There was a long pause. “You call that window?”  
“It’s a hole in the wall…”   
The rest of the group shared a curious look, before they went after them.   
Siyeon’s hole in the wall would technically probably specify as window. But it was like two meters up and it was really just a small hole. It didn’t even look big enough for a child. The rest of the room looked just as strange as the window. There was a table that was basically a long but really thin piece of wood. The chairs were maybe a meter in height, but also around a meter in length. The deco consisted of one single cactus that seemed to be glued to the ceiling where a normal room would have a lamp. The only light came from a few gigantic candles that almost touched the ceiling.   
“What the actual fuck is this?” Minji commented. “Why are we in such a building? Does this have any deeper meaning?”  
“I just wanna get out of here, “ Siyeon said. “So help me carry the table to the window.”  
“That doesn’t sound like your best plan. First of all, how will you fit through that window? Second of all, what will you do if the window is just as high above the ground outside as it is here?” Bora asked.   
“I will figure that out when I get there.”   
“I am so tired, “ Minji announced. “Can I sleep here? Will I wake up in reality if I fall asleep in my dreams?”  
“Try it, “ Bora said. “I’ll try finding an easier way out of here.”  
Yoohyeon woke up.


	29. Yoobin / Siyeon

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "What dream? I didn’t dream last night."

Yoobin smelled fire when she woke up. Her sheets were almost drenched in sweat and her skin felt burning hot. Did she have fever? Or was there a fire in the apartment?  
The floor next to her was empty, so Yoohyeon must have already stood up. Maybe she had tried to cook something and that was where the burning smell was coming from. If there really had been a fire, she would have woken her up, right?  
She was a bit disappointed that it hadn’t worked again. Another night without a dream. When would it finally work? They couldn’t go and ask BTS for advice, right? Namjoon had manipulated Yoohyeon and Siyeon. And Jungkook had used his powers to torture both of them. Maybe Gahyeon or Bora knew someone who could help them.   
She slowly stood up and went into the kitchen. The other six girls were all already sitting around the table. She looked around for the source of the smell, but she couldn’t find anything. “Do you smell that?” she asked.   
“Smell what?”   
“It smells like fire.”  
They all shook their heads. “That’s probably because of last night, “ Bora suspected. “It’s just weird that you smell it and we don’t.”  
Yoobin sat down next to her, slightly confused. “Last night?”   
Bora frowned. “Last night? In the dream…?”  
“What dream? I didn’t dream last night.” Yoobin went to the fridge and opened the door. She wanted to climb into the cold, but she just stood in front of it and let the air cool her down.   
Silence. A few hushed whispers, then someone stood up.   
Minji put a hand on Yoobin’s shoulder. “Fuck! You feel like you have fever.”  
“It’s just really hot in here, “ she said.   
“It’s not. I am cold.”  
“I do feel a bit feverish, “ Yoobin admitted. “Maybe I caught a cold.”  
“You don’t remember anything from last night?” Bora asked.   
“No? What’s going on? Did anything happen last night?” She turned around.   
The other girls awkwardly looked at each other. Minji guided her to table, closing the fridge door. “Sit down. We have to tell you something.”  
******

KIM NAMJOON

Siyeon [08:06 am]: We shared a dream last night  
Siyeon [08:06 am]: Yoobin doesn’t remember it though  
Siyeon [08:07 am]: and she seems to have a fever?   
Siyeon [08:07 am]: What’s wrong with her?

The others wouldn’t approve if they knew that Siyeon was asking Namjoon for help, but she just needed to help her friend. And Namjoon was the only one she could think of who might know something.   
Yoohyeon was just describing the mansion in the dream to Yoobin. With every word they said about the dream, Yoobin seemed more confused. She also looked quite bad, having dark circles around her eyes and being really pale.   
“Is your memory coming back now?” Bora asked. “Does any of this sound familiar?”  
“Not at all.” Yoobin was leaning her head against Yoohyeon’s shoulder and closed her eyes.   
“Is it possible for a cold to interfere with the dreaming?” Yoohyeon asked.   
Bora shook her head. “I can’t imagine.”

Namjoon [08:09 am]: she’ll have to deal with it herself  
Namjoon [08:09 am]: She can contact me if she wants to  
Namjoon [08:09 am]: I am really glad you finally succeeded!  
Namjoon [08:10 am]: Don’t worry about Yoobin! She’s gonna be fine.

Siyeon wanted to throw her phone against the wall. Why couldn’t he just tell her what was wrong with Yoobin so that she could help her?  
“I think I should take her home, “  Yoohyeon said. “She looks like she needs to rest a bit.”

That night, they shared a dream again.   
Siyeon was standing behind a small wall in a dark room, Gahyeon right next to her. Both of them were wearing some sort of vests around them, lit up in yellow light. A gun was hanging by her side and Siyeon hesitantly took it out. Even though Siyeon had never been in one before, she was sure that they were in a laser tag arena.  She tried to shoot somewhere, but the gun seemed to be locked.   
“The game hasn’t started yet, “ Gahyeon explained. “Have you played before?”  
She shook her head.   
“It’s easy. Just point and shoot at people in different colored vests and try not to get shot.” Gahyeon was holding her gun confidently, as if she had done this numerous times before. “Hold this with two hands at all time, otherwise you can’t shoot.”  
Siyeon gripped the gun with both hands, following the example of the younger girl. Even though it was a bit irritating, she was kind of excited that their dream had taken them here. She had always wanted to try it. And now she got to do it for free. Maybe the weird dream last night was an exception and they would have fun dreams like this from now on.   
“Game starts in 3, 2, 1… don’t die!” A voice announced.   
Gahyeon immediately left their safe space behind the wall, her gun in front of her.   
Siyeon waited a moment before she started to explore the arena, looking for the other girls. She found Yoobin cowering in a corner and went to talk to her. When she noticed that Yoobin’s vest was blue, not yellow, it was too late. Yoobin had already shot her. Her vest lit up red and a voice told her that she wouldn’t be able to shoot for a few seconds.   
Yoobin waved at her with a wide grin, before she went on to find another target. It looked like she was feeling better again.   
The game was a lot of fun. Yoobin was in the blue team with Handong and the other three girls formed the green team. Siyeon actually managed to take some of them out, but no one was nearly as good as Gahyeon. She never missed and was incredibly fast. During the whole game, she only got hit once, by Bora, who was also really good.   
They had been playing for what felt like hours, when a voice finally announced that it was over. They found an exit and ended up in a small room with a holder for the vests and a screen that showed them the results.   
The yellow team won, green coming in second and blue ranking last. Gahyeon’s hit rate was over 70%, which was incredibly good. Siyeon’s was only about 20%.   
They were both still celebrating their win, when Handong let out a little scream. She had already taken her vest off. Beneath it, there were holes in her black shirt that revealed pieces of burned skin. They were all over her upper body. “What the fuck? What is this?”  
Minji looked down her own body and pointed at her leg. “I have one here!”  
Siyeon took her vest off, only to find some of those spots on her body as well. “How did that happen?”  
It turned out that everyone had those spots, mostly right where the vest had been. Gahyeon only had a single one, which matched the fact that she only got hit once.   
“They are from the guns, “ Minji said. “Somehow, the guns actually hurt us.”  
“But it doesn’t hurt, “ Handong said, poking her burned skin. “It doesn’t hurt at all.”  
“That makes sense, I guess, as we are only dreaming, “ Siyeon said.  
Minji stared at the spots. “No. Something’s wrong with them…”  
“What do you mean?” she asked.   
“I think the spots are real.”


	30. Minji

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "Guys, we are the dumbest idiots on this planet."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> at this point I was just writing weird and random dreams I came up with... I'm sorry. also it's maybe a good idea to take a look at the tags if you wanna have a little warning about certain things that will be happening soon.

“I can tell apart what’s real and what just part of the dream, “ she explained. “For example, I know that all of you are real because you just … feel right. I can tell that the arena is just a dream. And I can also tell that the burn marks are real. We will wake up and still have them.”  
Minji looked at her body full of burned skin. It didn’t hurt, but there was no guarantee that that wouldn’t change after waking up.   
“Oh god, now I feel bad for being so good, “ Gahyeon said. “I am sorry.”  
“Don’t apologize. We all hurt each other, no one knew that this would happen.” She put a hand on the youngest shoulder. “I am glad that you only have one.”  
“Minji, can you end this dream?” Bora asked. “I think that was enough for one night.”  
She closed her eyes and tried to concentrate on waking up, ending the dream. It didn’t work.   
“What’s behind that door?” Siyeon asked, nodding at a door beneath the score screen.   
Gahyeon didn’t even wait for the others to discuss it, she just immediately went to open the door. “I guess it’s an Escape Room.”   
This dream was so different from the dream last night. If it hadn’t been for the injuries they got in the laser tag game, Minji would have been excited about the Escape Room. Spending your nights with your friends doing fun activities sounded pretty cool, after all. But after what had just happened, the Escape Room seemed more suspicious than anything else.   
Siyeon seemed to think otherwise. She clapped her hands. “Let’s go.”   
“Why can’t we just wait here till we wake up?” Handong asked. “I don’t want to get hurt more.”  
“There won’t be any lasers there, I guess, “ Yoobin said. “And I always wanted to try one of those Escape Rooms.”  
“There could be another twist, though…” Minji warned, but the others weren’t really listening. Siyeon, Yoobin and Gahyeon had already left the room.   
“It’s a dream! We can’t die, right?” Yoohyeon took Handong’s hand and pulled her into the next room.   
“I am not sure about that…” Bora looked at Minji. “Please end this dream before it’s too late. You can do it, I know you can.”  
“I’m trying.”

They failed horribly in the Escape Room. They had an hour to find a code that would open the door and let them out. They had tried everything they could think of. The numbers of several things in the room, the time the clock on the wall was showing, random numbers. Then a voice had announced that they only had one try left. And three minutes.   
Minji spent the three minutes hoping that they wouldn’t die because they failed. Yoobin was frantically staring at the closed door. Yoohyeon was lying on the floor, staring at the ceiling. Siyeon, Bora and Gahyeon had somehow found a deck of cards and now they were playing poker with it for some reason. Handong was the only one who was still looking for a clue.   
“What if something explodes again?” Yoohyeon asked. “I’ve had enough of explosions yesterday.”  
“What if we stay locked in here and slowly run out of air?” Minji shared her own theory.   
“We will solve this.” Where did Handong take that confidence from?  
“In two and a half minutes?” Bora wanted to know. “Let’s just prepare for the worst.”  
“We’ve counted the awards, several times. We’ve tried the year. We’ve tried the number of pens on the desk. We’ve tried the date on the calendar on the desk. We’ve tried everything, “ Siyeon said to Handong, who was just standing in the middle of the room, turning around. “I am sorry that I suggested to go in here, especially after what happened in the laser tag arena. I should have known that it was a bad and dangerous thing…”  
Suddenly, Yoohyeon jumped up. “Fuck! Guys, we are the dumbest idiots on this planet.” She went and took another look at the awards and cups on one of the shelves. “These are all first place, right? And the date on the calendar is literally today. And the time on the clock is like one or two hours after we went to bed. There are flamingos on the back of these cards you guys were playing with.”  
“I have absolutely no idea what you are talking about, “ Minji said. “What’s the point?”  
“We already know the number! We are the flamingos. And which one of us won first place today, just about one or two hours after we fell asleep?”  
“It’s my score!” Gahyeon stood up so fast that her chair fell to the ground.   
“Don’t you think that’s a bit far-fetched?” Bora wanted to know.   
“We’ve got nothing to lose, right?” Yoohyeon took Gahyeon’s hands and jumped around with her for a bit.   
Gahyeon told Yoobin the numbers and surprisingly, the door actually opened.   
Minji didn’t have a chance to see what was on the other side. She woke up.


	31. Yoohyeon / Yoobin

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "Please end this."

Yoohyeon hated being blind. She missed her dreams a lot.   
She had underestimated how many decisions she had based on her dreams. It was even a struggle to find something to wear in the morning or to pick out food. Also, she noticed a lot of things that had never happened to her before, just as missing the bus or being late to class.   
The biggest problem was that she couldn’t rely on her dreams when it came to the burned-skin-situation. She had spots of it all over her body. It didn’t really hurt, but they were all worried about it. Because if they could get burns in their dreams that would appear on their bodies in real life… then anything was possible.   
“I don’t wanna dream tonight, “ Yoobin said, lying on their couch. She still looked sick. “What if we go to sleep now and don’t sleep at all later? Couldn’t we avoid the sharing thing that way?”  
She thought about it for a moment. Siyeon said they all had to be together to dream in the beginning, right? Yoobin’s idea was definitely worth a try.   
It didn’t work. They couldn’t fall asleep.   
Yoohyeon hated this.  
******

Yoobin wasn’t used to pain. She had dislocated her shoulder once, but that had been about the worst thing she had ever experienced.   
Now she was turning mad because of the pain. She couldn’t concentrate on anything and it was hard to form a clear thought. On top of everything, she wanted to hide it from Yoohyeon. The others couldn’t know what was happening to her. She didn’t want Siyeon to feel bad about it.   
She was so fucking afraid of the next night. Her body was hurting everywhere and she was close to screaming every time something touched her burned skin. The thing was, there was no way to avoid the dream the next night. She’d tried.   
When Yoobin opened her eyes in the dream, she knew that it would be a bad one. A really bad one. Because they were right in the middle of a battle field that looked suspiciously like straight out of a fantasy movie.   
“Why are we dreaming about all of this shit?” Bora screamed next to her, a short sword in her hand.   
Yoobin herself was holding a sword, just that it was abnormally long. And heavy. “Are we supposed to fight with these? Who are we even fighting against?”  
Bora was pointing at the armor they were wearing. “They are all wearing either black or green. And we have this purple sign here… so I guess we are fighting everyone?”  
Yoobin spotted Gahyeon and Minji on top of a small hill near them. They both looked like they were were doing a photo shoot, not standing in the middle of a battle field. Gahyeon was holding two daggers, ready to fight, and Minji had put an actual axe casually over her shoulder as if it was a toy that weighed nothing. They were also wearing the purple sign on their armor, so at least they were all on the same side today. Yoohyeon and Siyeon were kneeling behind them, Yoohyeon shooting arrows with a bow and Siyeon using a crossbow. Yoobin couldn’t see whether they actually hit anything or not.   
“Have you seen Handong?” She asked Bora.   
She shook her head. “Let’s run to the others and look for her from up there.”  
Handong was standing in the middle of the battle field, carrying no weapon at all. She had somehow gotten her hand on the shield of one of their enemies and was protecting herself with it, but she didn’t have any weapon to fight back with.   
“There she is, “ Yoobin pointed out. She shouldn’t have. Yoohyeon lowered her bow, took out a knife and ran into Handong’s direction without even hesitating.   
It was horrible to watch. For some reason, the soldiers mostly avoided Handong. But they didn’t hold back with Yoohyeon at all, as she was attacking anyone in her way with a knife. Some guy cut her arm with his sword, another one hit her leg so that she could barely walk anymore. That’s the moment Yoobin had to turn away because she couldn’t watch it.   
“Please end this, “ she begged Minji.   
“We have to help them.” Siyeon was already trying to shoot everyone who was even close to Yoohyeon, but that wasn’t enough.   
“We have to wake up.” Yoobin couldn’t even imagine the pain she would be in tomorrow. Helping Yoohyeon wasn’t the primary concern. The worst thing that could happen to her was waking up. She probably wouldn’t feel any pain while dying. But the more she and the others got hurt now, the more pain Yoobin would be in tomorrow. The best thing they could do was to just end this dream as soon as possible and to not put themselves in unnecessary danger that could lead to even more pain for Yoobin.   
“We have to go, “ Minji decided, lifting her axe and following Yoohyeon into the battle.   
Yoobin had no idea how much longer she would be able to endure this pain.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> inspiration for this dream came from this ask: https://in-somnias.tumblr.com/post/175352583345/idk-a-lot-about-weapons-so-no-idea-what-some-of  
> (I myself sent that in btw so idk why I am linking it??? it just feels right to do so)


	32. Handong

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "Because it was her fault. She had taken that away from her."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Finally a chapter out of Handong's POV... i know that I am bad at describing the whole energy thing, but I tried.

Handong woke up. Over the course of the last seven nights, she had died four times. Once in the explosion in their first dream. Then in the battle dream. The following night she had fallen down a skyscraper. And last night she had been attacked by a werewolf- and died.   
Dream sharing was so much less fun then she had expected. Her dreams were lucid every night, something she had always wanted, but she still couldn’t control her dreams, which had been the ultimate goal. And she had never died in a dream before. It wasn’t a pleasant feeling.   
It had been half a year since Handong had moved to Seoul because of music, but she didn’t have many friends, or even acquaintances, outside of the dreamer group. She worked a part-time job in a little restaurant close to her apartment, but she could barely pay for that with her wages. This left her with little money and a lot of time. She couldn’t even remember what she had done with that time before she joined the dream-sharing group. Now she was constantly worrying about the next night and dying again.   
What made it even worse was that she was hiding something from the other girls. She knew how to use her powers, at least part of them. She knew how to manipulate the dream network a bit. She knew because she had already done it.   
It all started when she found out that she could sense energy. It was relieving to know what it was that she was always feeling on other people and she had really wanted to get better at it, so she started to train it. She just reached out to the energies of people that came into the restaurant or that walked by her on the street or anywhere else. Now that she knew what it was, it was easy to spot the people with different energies. It was rare, but she had sensed three dreamer energies during her training. Distinguishing a dreamer from a normal person came easy to her now, the harder part was figuring out the dreamer ability. Their meeting with BTS had given her more experience with dreamers, but it was still a struggle to tell someone’s ability.   
And then they had shared their first dream. And it was like Handong had opened an inner eye she didn’t even know existed. She finally knew what Namjoon had been talking about when he had mentioned the dream network. In their first dream, it was like her newly gained vision was out of focus, but it became clearer and clearer every night. And it wasn’t only there in their dreams- it was all around them when they were awake as well.   
The dream network felt similar to dreamer energy. There were these streams of energy connecting the seven girls together and these streams of energy just flowing through the air. It was basically flowing energy everywhere.   
Handong had also already fucked up with her ability. After their first shared dream, she had been way too excited about the dream network. So she had tried to influence it. Nothing had happened… until she had sensed the energy around Yoobin. It was dark and painful and something was definitely wrong with her. Handong had tried to do something to get that dark energy away from her and she did have some sort of success, because she could take away a bit of energy. Just that it wasn’t the dark energy she wanted to take away. No, the energy she took away felt just like their shared dreams and the connection between them.   
That’s why Handong felt responsible for Yoobin not remembering the dream. Because it was her fault. She had taken that away from her. For some reason, Handong was too embarrassed to say anything to the other girls and the longer she waited, the worse it got.   
Maybe it was time to tell the others about what she had discovered.

During their next meeting on Friday, Handong was distracted by thinking about how to casually bring up her abilities. The others were discussing ways of how they could finally learn to control their dreams.   
“Maybe we have to reverse what we did to share a dream in the first place, “ Minji suggested. “Not think about each other, sleep far away from each other and concentrate on not sharing a dream.”  
Yoobin shook her head. “That’s exactly what I was trying to do for the last nights. Didn’t work.”  
“You literally slept in the room next to me, so you ignored at least one of these, “ Yoohyeon said. “Also, I didn’t try any of those.”  
“We all have to try. We needed everyone to share dreams and we will need everyone to stop it, “ Minji added.   
“Okay. So we all just try not to think about each other while falling asleep? That’s the big plan?” Siyeon summed up.   
Handong was feeling the energy between them. It was the first time that she noticed that the bonds between the individual dreamers were different. There was a strong connection between Siyeon and Yoobin, a strong and dark connection. A faint scent of energy was flowing between Bora and Gahyeon, a similar one between Yoohyeon and Yoobin. There were no special connections between Handong and any member, all of the six connections felt exactly the same. She didn’t know whether to be sad about that or not, because maybe those special connections were actually a bad thing? There was no way to know what they exactly meant.   
“What about Minji? I think she could be capable of ending this, “ Bora said. “A Dreamdestroyer should have the abilities to prevent something like that from happening.”  
“If I can, I don’t know how. And BTS also did it without having a Dreamdestroyer.”  
“It could still be easier if we used the Dreamdestroyer we have.”  
Could Minji actually do it? Was that possible? She had struggled with ending their dreams every night. It was unlikely that she would be able to use her ability for something even more complicated now.   
“We have to be careful. What if we accidentally break our circle and never have shared dreams again?” Gahyeon asked. “That could happen if we just let an inexperienced Dreamdestroyer handle things like that.”  
“What’s so bad about that? I didn’t notice anything positive about the shared dreams, “ Yoobin said.   
Siyeon shook her head. “We are not breaking the circle. Gahyeon’s right, we have to be careful. Don’t you think that sharing a dream… it just feels right? And it feels like there is so much more possible than just battling werewolves and standing on skyscrapers.”  
“It does feel right, “ Minji agreed. “It also feels wrong, but being with you feels right.”  
“Let’s try Minji’s idea, “ Siyeon decided. “That seems to be a safe way.”  
That seemed like a good moment for Handong to speak up. Just open her mouth and tell the others about what she had discovered.   
She didn’t. She opened her mouth and started to talk about music.


	33. Gahyeon / Minji

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "We have formed the circle, how do we control it?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> these are some weird conversations but I am too lazy to rewrite them

“They want to control the shared dreaming, “ Gahyeon reported. “They are not happy with how their experience with it has been. The dreams were horrible and most of them ended in death.”  
“I guess that’s my fault, “ Namjoon said. “I’ve had Jimin play a bit with your dreams.”  
“That explains a lot. Can he maybe… tone it down a bit? We can play laser tag again, but please no more battles or high buildings or anything like that. What’s the point in us having horrible dreams?”  
“Well, I thought if your dreams were too comfortable, you would get lazy. And I need you to be able to use your powers as soon as possible. I want your circle. Fuck that, I need your circle, now that I know that you have an actual Dreamdestroyer and maybe even a Controller.”  
“Can you please just tell me why? Maybe then I can help you better, “ Gahyeon asked.   
“Not necessary. You’re helping me enough as it is.”  
“So what happens now? We have formed the circle, how do we control it?”  
Namjoon thought about it for a moment. “Every circle is a bit different. Honestly, it took us half a year to make any progress after forming the circle. Maybe that was because most of our dreams were quite pleasant. Hanging around with your best friends in a fancy hotel room with a bit of champagne just doesn’t motivate you to change anything. We did have some issues at first, but then we just got comfortable until we had a dream in which one of us died.”  
“And how did you learn to control it?” Gahyeon asked again.   
“We completely cut off all and any contact for two months, a few of us even went abroad. We tried to ignore each other in our dreams. That wasn’t the way to go.”  
Gahyeon was getting a bit annoyed. That story was interesting, maybe, but it didn’t answer her question. Not that she needed an answer to this question, really. She wasn’t here to listen to him talk about his circle.    
“We just missed each other so much that we always ended up in one dream. So we went the exact opposite way, we moved into the same apartment and spent every minute with each other to piss each other off. Also not the way to go.”  
What was going on with him today? Couldn’t he just come to his point?  
“That’s when we realized that it didn’t really matter what we did, we would always be deeply connected. And then we went to the sleep labs and all spent a night there and that was the first time we didn’t share a dream in like a year. We actually spent one month there a few weeks later and that’s when we learned how to actively decide whether to enter the shared dream or not.”  
“The sleep labs?” Gahyeon repeated. “The magical solution is a night at the sleep labs?”  
“Yes. Being woken up every other hour, being monitored… all of that just disrupts the dream network. And then you fight to get into the shared dream and that really teaches you how to control it, “ Namjoon poorly explained.   
“So we just have to spend a month at the sleep labs? And what money do we use to pay that?”  
“No money needed. I have a way to get you in. You just need to convince the others… especially Siyeon… to go there, “ Namjoon said.   
Gahyeon was a bit skeptical about that method working, but she was fine with trying it, so she nodded. “Sounds doable.”

DANCING FLAMINGOS

Gahyeon [10:04 pm]: I know you don’t wanna hear this  
Gahyeon [10:04 pm]: but BTS apparently went to the sleep labs to learn how to control it  
Gahyeon [10:05 pm]: I’ve been there before, it’s not that bad  
Gahyeon [10:05 pm]: We should try it  
Minji [10:09 pm]: Nope, sorry  
Yoobin [10:12 pm]: I’m willing to try anything  
Handong [10:24 pm]: That doesn’t sound worse than dying every night.   
Minji [10:27 pm]: We are not going to the sleep labs  
Minji [10:27 pm]: Not happening  
Minji [10:27 pm]: especially not because of BTS  
Siyeon [10:45 pm]: Sorry guys I can’t go back there  
Yoohyeon [11:01 pm]: It’s okay  
Yoohyeon [11:01 pm]: we’ll find another way

******

“Let’s hypothetically say there was something that kept on happening to you and you want it to stop happening to you, “ Minji started, but her boss interrupted her.   
“If your partner hits or hurts you in any other way, you leave them. No questions asked. Leave. Call the police on the abuser. Come to me and I will take care of you.”  
“That’s sweet of you to say, but that’s not what I am talking about. Let’s imagine it’s always raining, wherever you are, and you want it to stop, but not forever. What do you do?”  
“You can’t stop rain. You move somewhere where it rains as often as you want it too, “ her boss answered.   
“It’s something that you theoretically can stop, but you don’t know how to do it.”  
The older woman just looked even more confused. “Now I have no idea what you are talking about. Just tell me what’s going on.”  
“I can’t. One last try. So you are stuck somewhere and you really want to get out, but you want to come back later and be able to come and go as you want. How do you get out?”  
“That’s quite obvious, isn’t it? I bet you are moving around a lot? Don’t. Accept that you are stuck there, right now, in this moment. Don’t move. And then you will be able to leave it behind. Just like when you are drowning. Don’t struggle too much. Just keep still and you will survive.”  
Minji was not convinced that that was the best advice with the best example, but it actually inspired her. They needed to accept that they were a group. They needed to stop wanting the dreams to stop. Maybe then they would finally be able to control it.   
“Thank you!”


	34. Yoohyeon / JR

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "This is not our dream."

They were sitting at a long table in some sort of conference room. A foreign looking man was sitting opposite of them, holding a cup of coffee. “So glad that you have finally arrived, “ he said.   
What strange thing had their shared subconscious come up with now? Was he a murderer? Would he torture them? Nothing would surprise Yoohyeon after everything that had happened in their previous dreams.   
“Where are we?” Minji asked, full of panic. “What’s happening?”  
“We are sharing a dream, “ Yoohyeon sighed. “Just like we did last night and the night before…and every night for two weeks.”  
Minji shook her head. “We are not. This is not our dream.”  
“It’s his, “ Handong said. “He’s an Inviter.”  
The man nodded. “That’s right. I’ve heard about your extraordinary abilities. Dreamdestroyers are so incredibly rare… and I have to admit, I didn’t believe in the legends about Controllers until I’ve heard about you.”   
“Who are you and why are we here?” Yoobin asked.   
“My name is Julian Reed and I want to make business with you.” He smiled at them. “Being a dreamer is really cool, but wouldn’t it be way cooler if you could actually use your abilities for something? To make money, for example. Or to help other people.” He seemed to expect some kind of reaction, but they all just stared at him. “I can offer you a way to do both at once.”  
“Yeah, we are not interested, “ Minji immediately said.   
To Yoohyeon’s surprise, Handong was the first to disagree. “Let’s hear him out.”  
“I work for a company that calls itself GoodSleep. We provide everything you could possibly need to sleep well at night. This includes huge collections of mattresses, pillows, blankets, sheets. We have stuffed animals and night lights, we have white noise machines, alarm clocks and many, many more. Since recently, we also offer sleep wear. In addition to those material things, we offer a lot of services, one of them being the so called dream support. Customers can contact us 24/7 via an App or telephone and will receive a reply within 3 minutes. This is mostly for customers who just woke up after a nightmare, are afraid to fall asleep because of their dreams or otherwise want to talk about dreams. That’s where the dreamers come in. They help the customer with their dream problem. We are just expanding our network to South Korea and we really need some dreamers located here that can help our Korean customers. Are you interested?”  
Yoohyeon knew GoodSleep. She actually owned a lot of their stuff and was quite happy with all of it. But something about this guy and what he was telling them seemed shady. Helping people with their dream problems?   
“How much would we get paid?” Handong asked.   
The number Julian told them was unbelievable high, which only made all of this even more suspicious.   
“We will think about it, “ Minji answered. “You can invite us again tomorrow.”  
Julian nodded. “I will do that. It was a pleasure meeting you all.”

They were all sitting around in Siyeon’s kitchen to discuss the events of last night.   
“We’d get paid the amount I earn in the store per month. But per week, “ Siyeon said. “It’s really tempting.”  
“We won’t do it.” Minji was just as against this idea as Yoohyeon was. “Money aside, this is offer is just plain weird and doesn’t add up. First of all, don’t you think that it’s a bit shady to play with other people’s dreams without them knowing about it? That’s manipulative. Second of all, I get how an Inviter or an Influencer could help someone with nightmares. If I could control my powers, I could also help. I theoretically speaking see why he would want a paincatcher, but Siyeon is obviously not taking on the pain of random strangers. And an Eye and a Controller? I can’t think of one morally justifiable reason to hire an Eye and a Controller.”  
“Third of all, how would it even work?” Yoohyeon added. “We are still in the dream-sharing hell. If we can’t get out of it and control our abilities perfectly, we aren’t useful for GoodSleep at all.”  
“I think we should do it and sign a contract, “ Bora said. “I need the money. Street dancing doesn’t pay off too well.”  
Handong nodded. “Same with me. I could really use the money.”  
Yoohyeon was a bit privileged when it came to money. Her parents sent her a generous amount of money every month, additionally to money they gave her for living expenses like rent and groceries. It was different for Yoobin. She only got a very small amount of money from her parents and she was barely scraping by with it. She needed to support herself outside from that with smaller jobs. The other girls apparently also weren’t as fortunate as Yoohyeon when it came to money.   
“I think we all could, “ Yoobin sighed. “But Yoohyeon’s right. First we have to figure that thing out. After that we can discuss joining GoodSleep.”  
“Maybe the people there can help us with our problem, “ Bora suggested. “They seem to have experience with dreamers.”   
Yoohyeon turned to Gahyeon and Siyeon, who both hadn’t said anything about all of this yet. “What do you think?”  
Gahyeon was texting someone on her phone and shrugged when she noticed that Yoohyeon was talking to her. “Is there even a point in discussing this if we haven’t solved our situation?”  
“Yes. We can ask them for help, “ Bora answered.   
“As much as I want to end those dreams and how tempting the money is… I don’t think we should do it. I don’t trust people who just invite us to their dreams and make business offers, “ Siyeon said.   
Minji clapped. “Let’s take a vote. Those in favor of taking the offer and asking them for help, raise your hands.”  
Bora, Yoobin and Handong raised their hands.   
“Who’s against it?”  
Minji, Siyeon and Yoohyeon raised their hands.   
“Gahyeon, you have to vote to settle this, “ Yoohyeon said. “Should we do it or not?”  
Their youngest was still staring at her phone. “No.”  
“Good. That’s decided. We’ll talk about it again when we can control our dreams, “ Minji promised.

***JULIAN REED***

He invited them to the dream again the next night, just like they’d agreed on the night before. He chose the exact same room, but he put some flowers on the table to make them feel more comfortable.   
When they appeared, he straight away knew that they would say no.   
“We are really sorry, but we are in no position to work with you right now, “ their leader said. “If you give us your contact information, we could inform you if that changes.”  
“No need, “ he answered. There was no need, his boss would never go for anything like that. She only asked nicely once. After that, she just took what she wanted.   
Bora looked at him, but he couldn’t read her expression. She knew what was going to happen now. She had failed and the boss wouldn’t like that. She wouldn’t go easy on her and her circle. He felt kind of bad for Bora, but it was her fault, wasn’t it? He had tried his best.


	35. Siyeon / Namjoon

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "They had to end this somehow."

It was the first time in weeks that she was sleeping alone. Minji had decided that it was probably a good idea to keep a bit of distance between them if they wanted to stop their shared dreaming. Siyeon had agreed at that time, but lying here in her bed, alone, was not a good feeling. She knew that it was unlikely that she would have a nightmare again, at least not one of her own, but she was still afraid.   
When she finally fell asleep, she really did end up in a nightmare.   
Her hands were tied behind her back, her arms and legs were tied to a chair. She was gagged and every other minute, a drop of water touched her head. Was this one of her nightmares? Had they actually managed to stop the shared dreams? From the corner of her eyes she noticed Minji next to her in the exact same position. Her head was tied to something behind her, so she couldn’t really turn it, but it seemed like the other girls were also bound to chairs next to Minji. So not one of her nightmares. A shared nightmare.   
Luckily, she didn’t feel any pain or fear. She just felt highly uncomfortable.   
When would they finally be able to stop this from happening? Would they really have to go to the sleep labs to change their dreams? Last time she had gone to the sleep labs because of BTS it had ended badly. After everything she had learned about BTS, she didn’t trust them one bit anymore.   
“I’m so sorry, girls. I didn’t want to do this, but you’ve left me no choice.” Julian Reed was entering the room, grinning for whatever twisted reason. So it wasn’t a shared dream after all.   
Her instinct not to trust him had been right. He had acted strangely last Tuesday, when they told him that they wouldn’t do it. He had acted strangely that Monday as well, when he offered the jobs to them.   
“You will work with us eventually. It’s my job as the head of HR to make sure of that, “ he said. “Just enjoy being here and think about it.” He left the room again.   
Time passed slowly in that dream. Siyeon felt a bit like in a doctor’s waiting room. The chair was uncomfortable, it was too quiet and there was this expectation of something bad inside her. But there was no pain, just this big discomfort, which wasn’t unusual for their shared dreams.   
Someone seemed to be playing with the room temperature, because it went from unbearably hot to ice cold and back again all the time. The water that was hitting her head also started to annoy her. When would Minji finally end this dream?  
This was exactly what she had expected from Julian Reed. This was torture, actual torture. It was just as manipulative as Namjoon using Jungkook’s power to get Siyeon to do what he wanted. It seemed like no dreamer in this world could be trusted, especially not Inviters.   
Siyeon woke up from her alarm clock she had set because of her job.

DANCING FLAMINGOS

Minji [10:34 am]: I think he will invite us again tonight. How do we prevent that from happening?  
Bora [10:56 am]: You’re the one who ended Yoobin’s dream when you felt uncomfortable  
Bora [10:56 am]: Can’t you do the same now?  
Yoohyeon [11:07 am]: You know that Minji’s struggling with controlling her ability  
Yoohyeon [11:08 am]: We have to find another way  
Siyeon [11:45 am]: Minji, keep on trying! I believe in you  
Siyeon [11:46 am]: What if Yoobin invites us into her dream before he can invite us into his?  
Yoobin [12:06 pm]: Sorry, doesn’t work right now  
Yoohyeon [12:10 pm]: I could really use a nap:(  
Gahyeon [12:34 pm]: I know you don’t wanna hear this… but BTS could help us  
Siyeon [12:56 pm] Not happening  
Yoobin [01:33 pm]: What if we just don’t sleep at all?  
Minji [01:42 pm]: You remember when Siyeon tried to escape her dreams by staying awake?  
Handong [02:05 pm]: I don’t  
Handong [02:06 pm]: let’s just sleep during the day, he won’t be sleeping then, right?  
Yoobin [02:34 pm]: I tried to sleep, but I couldn’t  
Handong [02:46 pm]: If we all try it at once, maybe it will work?  
Siyeon [03:05 pm]: I am at work though  
Minji [03:16 pm]: Me too  
Handong [03:24 pm]: text us once your home

It didn’t work. They ended up in the same room, same position, just as the night before. Masked people came in and attached an IV to them. Siyeon had no idea what they were pumping into her body, but she didn’t like it.   
The next night, they were not wearing shoes and their toes were way too close to a fire. It didn’t hurt, but she woke up with burned toes the next morning, just like after the laser tag dream.   
GoodSleep continued to come up with new ways to torture them. That Monday, their hands were tied above their heads and their toes barely touched the ground. That Tuesday, they were lying in ice cold water. That Wednesday, they were on the chairs again, full on with their toes in the fire, the IV in their arms and as a new addition, electro shocks at random times.   
There was no pain, though. When Siyeon woke up, there were sometimes marks from the night before, but they never hurt. Still, the torture was mentally and physically draining her. She wouldn’t be able to bear it for much longer. She went through her days like a zombie, feeling exhausted and always thinking about what would happen the next night. They had to end this somehow.

DANCING FLAMINGOS

Yoohyeon [09:04 am]: Guys? Yoobin’s not doing well  
Yoohyeon [09:05 am]: I think the dreams have been affecting her?  
Yoohyeon [09:05 am]: I don’t know what to do  
Yoohyeon [09:05 am]: Please call me  
Yoohyeon [09:06 am]: or come here  
Yoohyeon [09:07 am]: She looks really bad  
Yoohyeon [09:08 am]: She’s barely conscious and seems to be in a lot of pain  
Yoohyeon [09:09 am]: Help me  
Bora [09:10 am]: Coming.

Yoobin looked like she had been through hell. She seemed to have a high fever, she was sweating and groaning a lot.   
“Why is this happening to her?” Siyeon asked. “Why isn’t it happening to the rest of us?”  
“Remember our first shared dream? There was something wrong with her back then as well, “ Yoohyeon said.   
“But why are the dreams only affecting her?” she repeated her question, looking at Bora.   
Bora shrugged. “I don’t know. Maybe it’s just different for Inviters?”  
“We do know an experienced Inviter we could ask about this…” Gahyeon said, but everyone ignored her.   
“We have to stop the dreams, “ Yoohyeon said. “I don’t want to, but maybe we have to take Julian’s offer.”  
Siyeon shook her head. “There has to be another way.”  
“I’m with Yoohyeon. We can still pull some trick on him later on, but we have to stop this for Yoobin’s sake.” Bora put a hand on Siyeon’s shoulder. “It will be okay.”  
She wasn’t sure about that.  
*******

GAHYEON

Gahyeon [10:14 am]: Yoobin’s in pain  
Gahyeon [10:23 am]: You have to invite us to your dreams  
Gahyeon [10:23 am]: They want to take Reed’s offer

“They’d rather work with a fucking psychopath who tortured them for days than ask us for help?” Yoongi said.   
“Well, we also tortured them, “ Jungkook reminded him. “So I get why they wouldn’t trust us.”  
“We really did everything wrong, didn’t we?” Namjoon buried his face in his hands. That was his mistake. Like the monster he was, he had destroyed everything.   
Hoseok hit him in the arm. “Yes, we did. But we can’t change that now. The only thing we can do is help them with this GoodSleep situation.”  
Namjoon sat up straight again. “Right. Okay, Hoseok, you and I will both invite them to our dreams tonight. If they sign any contract with GoodSleep, it’s over for us and them. We have to prevent that, that’s our top priority. Yoongi, Taehyung, anything useful in your dreams lately?”  
The Eyes shook their heads.   
“Then we will do what I said.”


	36. Minji

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "Why is there a pile of candy bars in your dream?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> a sweet dream...

She was lying on a big pile of candy bars, Siyeon right next to her. The dream felt different than their last dreams. The feeling was familiar, but she couldn’t quite figure out why.   
The whole circle was there. Yoobin was eating a candy bar. She didn’t look fine, exactly, but she looked better than she had during the day.   
“Is that a good idea? Eating one of these?” Siyeon asked.   
“It tastes like absolutely nothing.” Yoobin just threw the rest  behind her back.   
“Whose dream is this?” Minji wanted to know.   
“His.“ Gahyeon nodded at a young man who was standing in a corner of the room. Minji knew that he belonged to BTS and that he was an Inviter, but she couldn’t remember his name.   
To Minji’s surprise, Yoobin got up and hugged him. “Thank you.”  
“We Inviters have to stick together, “ he said, smiling at her. “It will get better, I promise.”  
“Why did you invite us here?” Minji wanted to know.   
“I knew about your little problem, so I decided to help you a bit, “ the guy explained. “I won’t try to manipulate or torture you, I promise.”  
That didn’t make Minji trust him, but she supposed that he couldn’t be worse than Julian Reed. It was just a bit questionable how he found out about their “little problem”.   
“Why is there a pile of candy bars in your dream?” Gahyeon asked. “What’s going on in your mind, Hoseok?”  
That answered Minji’s question. Of course Gahyeon had told BTS.   
“A lot of things, “ he sighed. “It’s a mess.”  
“What’s happening to Yoobin?” Siyeon suddenly asked. “You’re also an Inviter. You have to know what’s going on. Why is this happening to her but not to us?”  
“Didn’t she-“ Hoseok started.   
Yoobin interrupted him. “It was probably what Julian Reed gave me through that IV.”  
“But he did the same to all of us. Why is it different for an Inviter?”   
“An Inviter’s mind is really open. It has to be to let other people into the dreams. That’s why some things affect Inviters differently than other dreamers, “ Hoseok explained. “I don’t know what exactly that GoodSleep guy did to you, but that could be a reason why this is only happening to Yoobin.”  
Siyeon nodded, but Minji wasn’t so convinced. Something else seemed to be up.   
“What’s your plan for the future?” Bora wanted to know.   
“I want to dance in competitions again…release a mixtape… marry a nice boy… drink a lot of Sprite…, “ he told them dreamingly.   
“Good for you, but not what I meant. What’s your plan with us?”  
Hoseok just ignored her. “Sprite. I need Sprite.” He closed his eyes.   
“What are you going to do with us in the future?” Bora repeated her question.   
“Give me a minute, I have to concentrate.”   
It started to rain. Hoseok opened his eyes and caught one of the rain drops with his mouth. “Not exactly what I wanted… but hey, better than nothing.”   
While he was just standing around with his mouth wide open, catching the rain, Bora looked like she was about to kill him. “Can’t you just take a moment to answer my question and come back to your Sprite rain after that?”  
“Yes, I am sorry.” He smiled at her. “You should try the rain. It’s not quite like real Sprite… but I am getting there.” They just stared at him. “To answer your question, we will help you with your GoodSleep situation. Namjoon is thinking up ways to get GoodSleep off of your backs. The rest of us will work with you on controlling your abilities and the circle. Sounds good?”  
“We don’t want your help, “ Siyeon said. “Not after what you have done.”  
“Do we have much of a choice though? It’s either them or Julian Reed, “ Handong reminded her.   
Minji did what she always did when she wanted a fast decision. “Let’s take a vote. Those in favor of letting BTS help us, raise your hands.”  
Yoobin, Handong, Gahyeon and Yoohyeon raised their hands. Minji herself wasn’t sure, so she was glad that she didn’t have to decide herself. “I guess we will have to work with BTS.”  
Hoseok grinned. “Circle training! I have been waiting for this day. I am so ready to teach you everything I know. So, this is what I am thinking of, hear me out. Today, we get to know each other a bit better and have an honest and open talk, because if there is no trust between you and me, this cannot work. Tomorrow, we will meet in the evening in real life, preferably at the sleep labs, if that’s possible for you. There we will talk a bit about stuff and then it’s sleeping time. It’s important that you learn to consciously think in those little moments between being awake and asleep. They are crucial. I’ll invite you to my dreams of course, and then we will be woken up again and do the thing all over. That’s the first step. Questions?”  
No one said anything.   
“Then let’s sit down and get to know each other!”  
They all formed a circle on top of the candy bar pile. The Sprite rain was still coming down on them and it wasn’t too nice to sit in that sticky stuff on top of candy bars, but Minji just had to remind herself of the nights before and this seemed like paradise.   
“You know my dreams for the future… what are your dreams for the future?” Hoseok opened  the conversation.   
Minji saw it as her responsibility as a leader to start. “I want to do something with my life, you know? I am a fortune teller now, so I am not really changing much. I want to make people smile and be happy. And I want to be happy myself.”  
“Good goals!” Hoseok said. His smile was really bright and it was hard for Minji not to smile back. He seemed like a really sunny person and if he wasn’t part of BTS, Minji would love to get to know him better and maybe be his friend.   
Siyeon went next. “The ultimate dream would have been to become a professor. Or a stewardess maybe. But that’s basically impossible now, so I want to focus on my life outside of work. Make new friends, fall in love, spend less time inside of my own house with just myself.”  
“I want to improve my Korean. And do something with music, “ Handong told them.   
“Dancing. I want to dance, just because it makes me happy, “ Bora said.   
“Dancing? You like dancing too?” Hoseok jumped up, which wasn’t the best idea on a pile of candy bars. He fell and rolled down the pile till he hit the floor with a loud noise. That didn’t stop him, though, he just got up again, completely drenched in Sprite, and laughed. “Let’s dance!” he said. “Song requests?” He was already closing his eyes and a second later, music was playing. “Not what I wanted, but exactly what I needed.”   
The song playing was “Ice cream cake” by Red Velvet, a song Minji actually know the choreo to.   
Hoseok started to move and it was incredible. With that crazy happy expression everyone else would have just looked like a maniac, but it somehow worked for Hoseok. Watching him was just pure fun. She wanted to join in very badly, so when Bora made her way down the candy bar pile, she followed her. Soon, the whole group was dancing.   
It was an incredible experience. Dancing to “Ice cream cake” in front of a gigantic candy bar pile while it was raining Sprite. Minji couldn’t stop laughing. It was so surreal and so much fun.   
They spent the rest of the dream talking about music and dancing, their favorite thing to do. Just that Hoseok was with them now and shared his opinions. He was such a bright and hopeful person and he laughed a lot. He tried to play some songs for them, but he always failed miserably and something completely else, but even better, started playing.   
When she woke up, she was actually sad that the dream had ended and she was really looking forward to that evening. She knew that she shouldn’t trust a BTS member… but her heart really wanted to trust Hoseok.


	37. Handong

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "In those few moments, she knew how to Control. And it was incredible."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> an unnecessary game and a strange dream...

“Let’s play a game to deepen our trust, “ Hoseok suggested. “Then we can get to work.”  
They were all sitting in a big pillow fort they had just built in Siyeon’s apartment. There was way too little space for eight people, but Handong didn’t mind basically sitting on top of Yoohyeon.   
“What are the rules?” Minji asked.   
“Everyone writes down a secret on one piece of paper, and a riddle or a question testing the other person’s knowledge on another piece of paper. To get a secret, you have to solve the riddle or answer the question correctly. Clear?”  
Everyone nodded. Handong thought that game sounded stupid, but the others didn’t seem to think so.   
“Big secrets only, guys. If anyone in this room knows about it, it doesn’t count. Let’s start.” Hoseok gave everyone two pieces of paper and a pen.   
Handong decided to write about her biggest secret from the girls, but to keep it vague. The result was. “ _I am hiding something about my ability_.” As for the question, she decided to go with her musical knowledge. She was fairly certain that no one in this group knew anything about musicals.   
After everyone had finished, they decided to pick the questions by age. Gahyeon was the first to go and she got some lame question about photosynthesis, which she could obviously answer. Her poker face was good, there was no way to know what her secret was about.   
Yoobin got a riddle she solved without any problems or even hesitating. Maybe it had been her piece of paper to begin with. Yoohyeon failed, being the first one to not get a secret. Then it was Handong’s turn.   
“ _Who’s the cutest person in this room?_ Are you kidding me? What kind of question is that?”   
“Answer it, “ Minji demanded.   
“Gahyeon, obviously.”  
“Correct answer, “ Minji said. “Pick a secret.   
_I know more about my ability than I tell you._  
It was so similar to Handong’s secret, she almost laughed. She looked around, thinking about who it could be from. Her first thought was Bora, because she was keeping so many things from them, but Handong felt like she had been completely honest about her ability. Maybe Gahyeon? It was so painfully clear that she wasn’t telling them everything she knew. Now that she was thinking about it, Handong noticed that she had no clue what Gahyeon’s ability was at all. Over the excitement of the last few weeks, she just had kind of forgotten about that.   
Bora was the one to pick Handong’s question. “How the fuck am I supposed to know who wrote the music to Les Misérables? Handong, why didn’t you even try to be fair?”  
“Why do you think that’s my question?”  
“Who else would come up with a question about musicals?”  
In the end, everyone but Bora, Yoohyeon and Hoseok got a secret. They decided to burn all the secrets together. Then, Hoseok finally really started his “circle training”.  
“As you know, I am an Inviter. So naturally, I don’t have the best … connection the dream network. People with the Sight are usually closest to it, the other dreamers have to work a bit harder to use the network for what they want.”  
Siyeon raised her hand. “What’s a dream network?”  
“Oh. Well, the dream network… imagine it kind of like Wi-Fi? I actually don’t know how Wi-Fi really works, so maybe that’s not the best way to describe it. Every person on this planet is part of the dream network. Every dream is part of the dream network. And some people, the regular human beings, access it at night without even knowing what they are doing. They can’t feel the dream network, they can’t use the dream network and they aren’t aware of its existence at all beside their dreams. They never will be. We dreamers are basically just humans with genetic mutations that give us the ability to connect with the dream network and manipulate it. Because all dreamer abilities are basically just manipulating the energy of the dream network in different ways.”  
“Two questions, “ Minji interrupted. “First of all, how does an Eye see the future just by manipulating the dream network? Second of all,  if it’s just manipulating the dream network, is it possible for a dreamer to master all of the abilities?”  
“Good questions. Tae asked Namjoon the same thing about his ability and Namjoon came up with a plausible hypothesis. The dream network is kind of like the Internet. It knows everything, it remembers everything and it stores and sorts every bit of energy it has ever transferred. Being an Eye is basically like having access to Google. It doesn’t show you the real future, but it just shows you something with a high probability, based on your past experiences, other people’s past experiences and everything else the dream network knows. I like to think that it’s just one of these things that can’t be explained. For your second question, you know how different animals can see different colors? It’s a bit like that. There are several different possible mutations for dreamers and they can all see different colors, but you can’t make your body see colors your eyes aren’t made for.”  
Handong couldn’t follow him anymore, but she didn’t wanna ask. She didn’t really need to know this.   
“Okay, so we all manipulate the dream network, but we don’t really do it consciously. We are not aware of it. And that’s what we wanna do now. Consciously influence the dream network. And to do that, you first have to notice it and feel it. And the only time for dreamers to do so is in those few moments between falling asleep and being awake.”  
Apparently, Handong was always in those few moments between falling asleep and being awake. She could feel the dream network right now, just energy floating between all of them. But even though she could feel it, she didn’t know how to manipulate it.   
Hoseok took some pills out of his pockets. “We are going to try that now. These will make you fall asleep very fast and it’s easiest to feel the network that way. Just lay there and try to reach out until you notice something… Worked for me and most of the other BTS members.”  
He gave everyone a pill. Gahyeon didn’t even hesitate, she just immediately swallowed it and laid down. The others stared at each other, until Minji finally went first. Everyone else followed, until it was only Hoseok and Handong sitting there with pills in their hands.   
“Take it. We have to fall asleep so that I can invite you to my dreams.” He looked at her expectantly.   
She closed her eyes and swallowed it. She played around with the dream network while she was falling asleep. Just in those few moments before falling asleep she felt a big energy wave coming from Hoseok. She pulled at it a bit and then pushed it back. It was easier than it normally was. She could just do whatever she wanted with the energy. In those few moments, she knew how to Control. And it was incredible.

_Yoobin was lying on the floor, breathing heavily. Her face was completely filled with pain. Her mouth was hanging open as if she was about to scream, but besides her breathing everything was quiet. Someone was holding her hand, slowly running their fingers through her hair. She moaned and the person started to quietly sing a lullaby for her. After the lullaby ended, everything was completely quiet._

_Hoseok was dancing. His moves were incredibly powerful and they were bearing so much emotion. It was raining, his hair was completely wet, his white shirt was drenched from the rain. It was a peaceful moment, a wonderful moment. Until the rain started to color his shirt red. Tears were streaming down his face now, but he kept on dancing. It looked like that was the only thing keeping him alive._

_Minji was sitting opposite of the devil. He was smiling at her, giving her a supportive nod. Her expression was full of determination as she stuck out her hand and cut open the inner surface of it with a knife. The blood dropped onto the table before the devil mirrored her actions and took her hand. Their blood mixed. They had a deal._

_Siyeon was surrounded by shadows, knives were sticking out of her whole body and there were even more thrown at her. She closed her eyes, slowly pulling out one of them. With a determined look on her face, she threw it at the shadow right in front of her. She took out knife after knife, throwing all of them into the crowd of the shadows, until all of them disappeared and there were no knives left inside of her body._

_Bora was standing behind a person, one hand resting on their shoulder. In her other hand, she was carrying a knife. With a smile on her face, she lifted the knife. “I’ll always be loyal to you, “ she said, right before she rammed the knife into the back of the person. She laughed as she was pulling out the knife again._

_Yoohyeon was standing in a forest, all alone. The only thing lighting the way in front of her was the weak light of the moon. She stumbled around, seeming completely lost. When she tripped over a stone and fell, she started calling for help. Nothing happened. She just sat there all alone for an eternity and waited._

_Gahyeon was standing in front of a mirror. She was crying, as she suddenly took off her face like a mask only to reveal Namjoon’s face behind it. He looked angry, staring at the person in the mirror full of hate. He lifted his fingers and tore down his own face. What lay beneath it was Gahyeon’s face again, smiling brightly._

_The wind was pulling at Handong’s hair and her red dress. Her eyes were closed, as she moved her fingers a bit. A storm was forming in front of her. She smiled and pushed it away from her. The world went quiet around her again._

 “Fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck.”  
Handong woke up to the sound of Siyeon cursing.   
“What the hell happened?” Bora asked. “Hoseok?”  
She opened her eyes and sat up. The others were also slowly getting up, all looking like shit. It was still dark outside.   
Hoseok covered his face with his hands. “That was the weirdest dream I have ever had.”  
“Did we all have the same dream?” Gahyeon asked. “The weird snippets with all of us in them?”  
“Hoseok dancing, Gahyeon with the masks, Minji cutting herself, Siyeon throwing knifes, Yoobin dying, Yoohyeon in the forest, Handong being the storm goddess?” Bora summarized.   
They all nodded.   
“And you stabbing someone in the back, “ Minji added.   
“What happened?” Siyeon wanted to know.   
Yoobin looked a bit shaken. “Maybe it was some sort of torture from Julian?”  
“Possible, “ Hoseok agreed. “He could be working with an Influencer.”  
“No. It wasn’t like that… It was the dream of…” Minji started.   
“It was my dream, “ Yoohyeon interrupted.   
There was a little gasp from Yoobin, who was the first to get the meaning of that. It took Handong a moment to remember what Yoohyeon’s dreams were: a possible future.   
“It’s probably metaphorical, “ Minji said to Yoobin. “Like the scenes with Hoseok and Gahyeon clearly were.”  
That didn’t seem to calm Yoobin down. That didn’t seem to calm anyone down. Most of them just stared in the void for a while, Siyeon jumped up to walk around a bit and Yoohyeon returned to a sleeping positon.   
“Just… how did we get into your dream?” Hoseok asked.   
Handong felt like she was about to vomit. “I think that was my fault.”


	38. Yoohyeon / Siyeon / Handong

Yoohyeon had been waiting to have one of her dreams for weeks, but now that she had had one, she just wanted to forget it. Every part of it. Especially Yoobin dying.  
Handong was just explaining to them how she had been able to feel the dream network since their first dream. How she thought she was responsible for Yoobin not remembering it. That’s why she had hidden it from them- an absolutely stupid reason. And then she had just manipulated the dream network without really knowing what she was doing and somehow, that was what happened. Hoseok decided that it was best to continue his conversation with Handong outside after that.  
“My dream was about the contract, wasn’t it? I won’t sign it, I promise, “ Minji said after they had left. “I really don’t want to.”  
“It’s just a possibility. Maybe nothing of that will ever happen, “ Yoohyeon reminded them. “No reason to freak out. It can absolutely be avoided.”  
“I don’t wanna end up like Oedipus, though, “ Yoobin said.  
She had no idea what her best friend was talking about, but she was used to that.  
“Can we talk about what Handong being able to control the dream network means for us?” Bora changed the subject. “We can be free from BTS.”  
“And Julian Reed, “ Minji added.  
“She took seven people into Yoohyeon’s dreams without even trying. Once she figures out what to do to achieve what, she’ll be absolutely unstoppable.”  
“Like the storm goddess that she was born to be. Maybe that was what the dream sequence with her was about, “ Siyeon said.  
That made a lot of sense. Handong had looked absolutely terrifying and majestic in the dream, so the description storm goddess was perfectly fitting, even though she was such a sweet girl in real life.  
“We all have to work on our abilities, “ Minji said. “And I think that Hoseok is our best chance to do so.”  
Siyeon nodded. “Am I the only one who is totally confused right now? I have no idea if we can trust BTS or not.”  
“Same. Hoseok is such a cool guy, it’s so much fun with him… but I just can’t forget that Namjoon manipulated us, “ Yoohyeon said.  
“I don’t trust them.” This wasn’t a huge surprise coming from Bora because she never really did trust them.  
“And I don’t trust you right now.” Yoobin stared at the older girl. “Your dream sequence was clearly about betrayal or something like that.”  
“So Minji gets no shit for  signing the contract, but I am held responsible for that?” Bora asked. Even though she did have a point, Yoohyeon was more on Yoobin’s side. It was so obvious that Bora was hiding something from them since she had revealed all of the dreamer stuff. And she was also really against BTS and really keen on forming a dreamer circle… there was definitely something wrong. She was part of their circle now, but it was definitely time for them to have a talk without Bora.  
“I trust Minji to do the right thing. And I trust Hoseok. I don’t trust all of BTS, but I do trust Hoseok, “ Yoobin said. “I say we let him help us.”  
“Don’t do that, “ Bora begged. “Don’t trust BTS. Namjoon has done too much shit for us to trust him now.”  
“Namjoon’s not a bad guy, “ Gahyeon said. “I trust him.”  
“Not surprising, seeing as you are his spy in our circle, “ Yoobin said.  
Gahyeon stared at her with an open mouth. “What are you talking about?”  
Yoohyeon couldn’t help but laugh a bit. “Did you really think we didn’t know that? It was obvious.”  
“Namjoon was the one who recommended you to us… you were always in favor of working with BTS… they love you… you mentioned someone telling you about your ability, obviously Namjoon… and then the dream with the mask?” Yoobin added.  
“Why did you let me into your group if you knew?”  
“I wasn’t sure. You are just too cute to be working with Namjoon.” Minji seemed quite disappointed that it turned out to be true. “Why are you working with him?”  
“And what’s your ability?” Yoohyeon wanted to know.  
“What are you telling him? What is he telling you?”  
“He’s paying me. And he told me that it wouldn’t harm anyone and be helpful for me and my ability…That was reason enough for me. I told him all about the Julian Reed stuff, of course, and about forming a circle. He told me that we should go to the sleep labs and not much more, “ Gahyeon explained. “I know he sometimes uses the wrong methods, but he is a good guy with good intentions.”  
“Gahyeon, now is the time to share the full truth with us, “ Bora said to her. “What’s your ability?”  
“I am an Influencer. I influence dreams. Consciously. That means I know how the dream network feels and how to sense energies. And then I can send specific images or something like that into someone’s dreams. And actually, Namjoon’s been using his own Influencer against us. In our shared dreams, all the bad stuff? It was mostly from him.”  
“Why the fuck should we trust this guy?” Bora asked. “He’s the fucking reason our dreams have been that bad.”  
“Why did he do it?” Yoohyeon asked.  
“He needs us to be a functional circle… so he wants us to be able to control it as soon as possible. He believed that if we were too comfortable in our shared dreams, we wouldn’t really try to control it.”  
“Why does he need us to be a functional circle? What’s his plan with us?”  
“I have no idea, but I don’t think it’s bad.”  
“Really convincing.” Bora seemed a bit frustrated. “You guys would rather trust BTS who need us for some reason and who have in fact manipulated and tortured us than me?”  
Siyeon let out a tired sigh. “I don’t know who the trust anymore. I can’t even trust myself.”  
“Trust me, “ Minji took her hand. “I will do everything I can to stop this chaos.”  
Hoseok and Handong came back into the room. “We have to continue our training. Who felt the dream network before falling asleep?”  
Yoohyeon hadn’t felt anything. She had been consciously thinking during those moments between being asleep and awake, but she hadn’t felt anything. Handong, Gahyeon and Bora all said that they had felt it, which wasn’t a surprise.  
They decided to try it one more time that night. Hoseok gave them another pill Yoohyeon immediately took. She knew that she wouldn’t be able to fall asleep without some help. Again, she didn’t feel anything before falling asleep.  
They ended up in Hoseok’s dream, all standing on an empty stage in an empty arena. He sighed, looking around. “I wish my boys were here. I haven’t been here with them for quite some time.”  
“I felt it!” Minji said. “I think I felt the dream network. It was so weird… and there was like a wave of energy coming from Hoseok pulling me in.”  
Yoohyeon looked for Handong, but she wasn’t standing on stage with them. Hadn’t she fallen asleep yet?  
“Very good, “ he smiled at Minji. “This wave of energy that you felt coming from me is important. It’s similar to what you will feel before a shared dream with each other starts. Those waves are not easy to avoid, especially if they are powerful. I’m impressed that Handong managed to redirect mine before. But the circle waves are a bit different and a lot easier to control because it’s coming from all of you. All of you have power over it, so you just have to learn to tone it down and keep your own energy to yourself. Hold on to it.”  
“Can we learn to avoid being invited to a dream?” Siyeon asked.  
“As I said, they are very powerful and if they are controlled by a different dreamer, it’s basically impossible to avoid them for the average dreamer. Theoretically speaking, you can learn it, but it would probably take years of training and even we haven’t mastered it yet. We’ll concentrate on ending the shared dreams for now.”  
No one said a word about Handong, so Yoohyeon decided to ask. “Where is Handong?”  
The others looked around like they had just noticed that one of them was missing.  
“She’s with Namjoon, “ Hoseok explained. “He can help her more than I can.”  
“Was that what you were talking about earlier? That you wanted her to talk to Namjoon? You know that we don’t trust him at all.”  
“She wanted to go. I just brought up the idea, she was the one who wanted to meet with him immediately.”  
“I thought we all had to learn this? Just feeling the dream network isn’t enough. Just as we do she has to learn how to get out of the shared dreams, right?” Bora said.  
“She’ll join us again tomorrow. It’s just one time, okay? And she doesn’t need this at all, she can already manipulate the dream network.” Hoseok shrugged. “Also, these dreams aren’t really important for our training. We just stand here and wait till the alarm goes off and we wake up.”  
“What if we use this time? I would love to learn how to control my ability, “ Minji said. “Tell me how.”  
“I don’t know, “ he admitted. “I have no idea how to help you. We could dance again, though.”  
Not even Bora was in the mood for that. They just sat on the stage until they woke up.  
********

Siyeon and Minji were the only ones left in her apartment, cuddled up on the couch with hot chocolate.   
“I don’t know what to do, “ Siyeon said. “We can’t even trust our own circle. We can’t trust BTS. I feel so lost.”  
“Me too. Things got so fucked up so fast… I wish I could go back to not dreaming at all.”  
“I want my nightmares back. At least they were only ever affecting me.” She really meant it. Even though her nightmares were horrible, they were better than everything that was going on now.   
“Imagine we would have met earlier. Maybe we would have noticed that you don’t have nightmares when you’re sleeping around me… everyone would have been happier that way, right?”  
Siyeon imagined just being best friends with Minji, living together, enjoying a dreamless life. It would have been possible. But it didn’t happen and it wouldn’t do any good to regret things now.   
“What are we going to do about our circle?” she asked. “We can’t trust Gahyeon because we don’t trust Namjoon. We can’t trust Bora because she is obviously hiding something. Can we trust the others?”  
“I trust Yoobin and Yoohyeon. But I’m worried about Yoobin, especially after the dream sequence. We should definitely talk to her about it.”  
“I agree. What about Handong? Her ability kind of scares me a bit.”  
“She did lie to us about her progress with that… but I think we should talk to her before we make a decision on whether she’s trustworthy or not, “ Minji suggested.   
Siyeon nodded. “Let’s do that.”  
They spent some time in silence. She was thinking about the future. Maybe GoodSleep would win… what would their lives be like working for them? At least they wouldn’t be tortured anymore. But considering her ability, they might use her to torture other dreamers… and she couldn’t even bear the thought of that. Maybe Namjoon would win… she had absolutely no idea what he wanted with them, but no matter what it was, it couldn’t be worse than GoodSleep, right? Hoseok didn’t seem all too unhappy with his life. Or maybe they would win… would they still be a circle? Would they just hang out in their dreams and have a good life? It didn’t really seem possible.   
“What are you thinking about?” Minji was brushing through her hair slowly, smiling a bit.   
“What would happen if we’d make it out of this situation…”  
“And what would you do if we’d make it?”  
“I would quit my job at the store and go to university. The only reason I didn’t do it before were my nightmares. Becoming a professor has always been a dream of mine… maybe it’s too late to do it now, but I want to try.” Just thinking about this made her feel good. Walking around the world fully awake, no more of her nightmares, just hanging out with her friends in her dreams, studying during the day. It sounded perfect.   
“Why would it be too late? I promise, I will do everything I can to guarantee that you can start university as soon as possible. You deserve to live the life you want to live. Don’t let your dreams stop you and don’t let society stop you.”   
Siyeon played with Minji’s finger, smiling at her. “Thank you. Don’t promise that, though.”  
“I promise, “ the other girl repeated. “I promise to keep you safe.”  
“What do you want to do after all of this? Will you continue your work as a fortune teller?”  
She shook her head. “I don’t think I will. I think I am going to do something with food… I just love food a lot. And I’ll ask you to move in with me.”  
“Sure that you want to share your dreams and your apartment with me? Isn’t that a bit much?” Siyeon asked.   
“100% sure. I could never get enough of you. I mean we haven’t slept in separate places for quite some time… it would just make it official and we would both have our things and our own spaces.”  
“Once we have solved this situation, I will definitely move in with you, “ she said smiling. She was feeling hopeful at that moment. They would make it. They would be able to live the lives they had just been talking about. Right?   
INNER CIRCLE  
Minji added Yoobin, Yoohyeon and Siyeon  
Minji [01:34 pm]: You’re the only ones I trust right now  
Minji [01:34 pm]: We need to have a talk  
Yoohyeon [01:46 pm]: What about Handong? I trust her. She should be part of this.   
Siyeon [01:51 pm]: She lied to us about her ability  
Siyeon [01:51 pm]: Minji will talk to her separately to see if she’s trustable  
Yoohyeon [02:03 pm]: Why does Minji get to decide that on her own?  
Yoohyeon [02:05 pm]: I think we should have a vote  
Minji [02:09 pm]: You can all talk to her and see if you trust her for yourself  
Minji [02:10 pm]: Then we can decide  
Yoohyeon [02:14 pm]: I trust her  
Yoobin [02:34 pm]: We know.  
********

Handong had absolutely no idea what she had done.  
Somehow, she hadn’t ended up in Namjoon’s dream last night. Instead, she had had a completely normal dream. It had been just like her dreams before all of this.  
She hadn’t mentioned it to the others. No one had asked her about it, not even Hoseok, so she had decided to stay quiet.  
But now Minji was sitting opposite of her, questioning her. To find out whether she was trustable or not.  
She wanted to be trusted so badly, even though she knew that the others could have a few reasons not to do so. So she told her about it.    
“Maybe Namjoon failed to invite you?” Minji suggested.  
“But why didn’t I end up in Julian Reed’s dream then?”  
“It’s possible that he’s given up on inviting us to his dream. Or maybe he had tried it earlier, failed, and then he didn’t try it again. There are a lot of possible explanations.”  
“But what if I fucked up the dream network again?” Handong asked.  
“We have to get our abilities under control, “ the older girl sighed. “Maybe we can find other dreamers to help us?”  
“And where would we do that?”  
“I’ll think about it.”


	39. 1/8: DYING FOR YOU- YOOBIN

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> am I rushing the end of this story bc I am afraid I will never finish it if I don't do it now? I sure af am so the last nine chapters are gonna be hella weird and also become more and more illogical with every chapter but yeah, enjoy the longest chapter of this fic! with a lot of different POVs...

_Yoobin was lying on the floor, breathing heavily. Her face was filled with pain. Her mouth was hanging open as if she was about to scream, but besides her breathing everything was quiet. Someone was holding her hand, slowly running their fingers through her hair. She moaned and the person started to quietly sing a lullaby for her. After the lullaby ended, everything went completely quiet._

The pain was nearly unbearable. She had tried every sort of pain killers she could think of, but nothing worked. Not to her surprise, but she had still hoped. The pills just made her feel even worse, if that was possible.   
She and Yoohyeon went to Siyeon’s earlier than the rest, so that they could have their conversation about the others. Apparently, they trusted Handong now, because she was also present. Yoobin had a few difficulties following the whole conversation, but she tried to say something every now and then without being too suspiciously out of it. Their talk didn’t seem to lead to anything new anyway. Bora was hiding something from them, Gahyeon was spying on them for Namjoon and Hoseok could also not be trusted because of his connection to Namjoon. Namjoon couldn’t be trusted because of the torture and manipulation and his unclear motives and GoodSleep couldn’t be trusted because of everything, basically. They didn’t talk about their dream last night, which was quite a relief for Yoobin. She just wanted to forget seeing herself die. She couldn’t forget it, because it was there whenever she closed her eyes, but she tried.   
There were several moments throughout the day where she thought she couldn’t breathe anymore, but somehow, she was still alive. Even though every breath hurt. But to be honest, everything hurt. Even thinking, for some reason, hurt.   
How had Siyeon endured this for her whole life? Yoobin was so close to breaking. After all, she had to handle the pain of torture from seven fucking people all at once, in her one singular body. The last two nights in Hoseok had helped a bit, because at least there was no new pain, but life was still hell. The others didn’t ask her about it, though, which was exactly what Yoobin wanted, but after all, she was in so much pain that it was a miracle that she was even standing. How couldn’t anyone notice that?  
When Hoseok and the others came, he didn’t stop talking. Yoobin tried to listen, because somewhere between the lines there could be something that would help her ease her pain, but it was hard, so hard. She was glad when he finally gave her a sleeping pill.   
Just that Hoseok failed that night. For some reason, when Yoobin opened her dream eyes, she was lying on an operation table and Julian Reed himself was cutting her skin with a knife. “This is for trying to end this,” he said. “There are only two ways out of this. Sign the contract or die.”  
If Yoobin would have been in a position to decide and do something, she would have done anything to get out of this pain. Both of these options sounded so much better than having to endure this every night. It was getting worse with every minute. Her body was burning everywhere, but it was also ice cold at the same time. She felt like something was ripping at her and then there were the cuts from Julian’s knife.   
“Soon, you won’t be able to wake up anymore, “ he told her. “So you better make a decision with your circle soon. Sign or die.” He gave the knife to someone else and left the room.   
Yoobin closed her eyes and tried to distract herself from the knife cutting her skin. She wanted this to end. This had to end. She couldn’t take it anymore.   
It felt like she spent an eternity on that operation table, but then it disappeared and the dream ended. Was she finally waking up? Was she finally dying? For a few seconds, her mind was clear. So clear, that she could feel the pain inside of her. She let it go. It was Siyeon’s to deal with again now. Then she fell into the darkness.

***HANDONG***

Hoseok had woken all of them up as soon as he had managed to get out of his own sleep to help them. He just didn’t have any success with Yoobin, she was still asleep, no matter what they tried to wake her up. They screamed at her, splashed cool water on her faces, shook her whole body and even tried to hit her. It didn’t work. She didn’t wake up. She was just lying there, breathing heavily.   
Yoohyeon was freaking out, sitting in a corner of the room, staring worriedly at her best friend. Minji tried to help her somehow, but she also clearly didn’t know what to do. Hoseok had left the room to talk to Namjoon.   
Handong observed the dream network. Julian Reed’s energy was still surrounding Yoobin… along with so much dark energy that Handong couldn’t make out Yoobin’s own energy at all. The dark energy seemed to flow to Yoobin through her connection… to Siyeon. Could she do something about that?  
Siyeon started crying. “Did he also tell you that we won’t be able to wake up eventually? He did that to her. We lost her.”  
“We didn’t lose her yet, “ Minji said. “There’s still a chance. As long as she is breathing, there is a chance that she will survive.”  
Handong felt Julian’s energy leaving Yoobin… now there was only the dark energy around her. She wanted to say something, but the energy was suddenly leaving Yoobin completely and flowing right back to Siyeon. Handong tried to pull or push the dark energy away from her… but she couldn’t control it. It was outside of her ability. When the energy hit the paincatcher, she started to scream and sank to her knees.   
What followed was chaos. Everyone was running to Siyeon to see what was going on, but even when her screaming ended, she couldn’t say a word.   
It was Handong’s time to take over. “QUIET!”, she screamed at everyone. “Someone tell Hoseok that we immediately need BTS’ paincatcher here. Immediately. Give Siyeon some space. She’ll be able to handle the pain for a bit, I promise.” She had no idea what she was doing or if any of that was true or helpful, but it felt right.   
They did what she said. Gahyeon ran to Hoseok, the others all stepped back from Siyeon. “What about Yoobin?” Yoohyeon asked.   
She concentrated on the dream network again. Yoobin’s energy was still there, so she was alive. It didn’t feel like she was awake right now, but also not like she was dreaming, it was something else Handong couldn’t define. But the energy was faint. They had to do something.   
What if there was a way to transfer energy to Yoobin? That could possibly save her. Handong tried to push her own energy to the younger girl, but it didn’t work. The connection between them didn’t seem to allow that.   
But someone else had an incredibly strong and stable connection to Yoobin.   
“Yoohyeon, I need your energy.”  
“Take it. What do I do?”, she asked. “How do I help?”  
“Just stay still.”   
Handong closed her eyes and let her surroundings completely fade out, focusing all of her attention on the dream network. And then she pulled on Yoohyeon’s energy and directed it to Yoobin. It worked for a few seconds before Handong couldn’t hold it anymore, but a small bit of energy had been transferred. She just really hoped that it was enough. At least Yoobin felt more like she was sleeping without dreaming anything now.

***JUNGKOOK***

J-HOPE

J-Hope [06:03 am]: SOS  
J-Hope [06:03 am]: we need u  
J-Hope [06:03 am]: Siyeon’s apartment  
J-Hope [06:04 am]: hurry up, it’s urgent

Jungkook was a bit annoyed when the messages from Hoseok woke him up. The last time he had told him that it was “urgent”, his problem turned out to be that he wanted a burger but was too caught up in writing music to go get one. This time, he probably wanted to show the girls some of their choreos or songs and needed help for that. So he took his time, showering, getting breakfast and only slowly going to Siyeon’s apartment that wasn’t too far away from their building.   
He first felt it in the elevator. The pain. It was like he was close to a hospital. So this was really a problem. A big problem. When the elevator finally reached the right floor, he ran out of it to Siyeon’s door.   
Hoseok opened it. “Finally! There is something happening with Siyeon… please do something.”  
Jungkook pushed him out of the way, just to see the other paincatcher lying on the couch, looking like absolute hell. The pain he felt coming from her was the worst thing he had ever experienced in his whole life as a paincatcher. It took all his strength not to collapse onto his knee or start to scream. And he only felt a small part of the pain.   
“Fuck. Fuck. What happened to her?” he asked while sitting down next to her.   
“We don’t know, “ the leader told him. The other girls were all standing around the room, but one of them was missing for some reason.   
“Take part of the pain, “ Bora said. “Save her.” He was already slowly pulling pain from Siyeon to himself, but even though he was used to pain, he wouldn’t be able to handle more than like a quarter of the pain. The only other way to make it better for Siyeon would be to transfer the pain to the rest of the circle.   
“Transfer the pain to all of us, “ one of them said. He wasn’t sure whether he had seen that girl before, but she looked really calm and in control in this situation. And she was saying exactly what he was thinking.   
He didn’t wait for the others to give their okay. He tried to equally distribute the pain to all the other dreamers in the room. Some of them screamed a bit when it hit them, but they all endured it without complaining. Everyone was now feeling about an eighth of the pain Siyeon had been feeling before, but it was still worse than being shot at or stabbed, Jungkook knew that from experience.   
“Question. How long do we have to live with this pain?” Gahyeon asked.   
“Until the source of the pain is healed, “ he answered. “I don’t know where that pain is coming from, but it’s bad, so it will take a while.”  
Siyeon was still completely out of it, but Jungkook couldn’t think of anything to make it better.   
“What happened?” Minji asked Hoseok. “Any possible explanation?”  
He sighed a bit. “Yoobin didn’t want you to know this, I guess, but there’s no way to avoid the truth now. When a circle is formed, an untrained paincatcher doesn’t have any way to release the pain because of the shared dreams. It’s possible to deal with the pain, but you have to learn how to. Siyeon doesn’t know how to do it properly yet. So her body wants to get rid of the pain, of course. And then there are the strong connections between the members of the circle… so the body or whatever sends the pain through those bonds to get rid of it. And as Inviters have very open minds, probably because of their ability, they take in the pain. So, all the pain Siyeon took in over the course of your life as circle was dumped on Yoobin. And this is where my wisdom stops, because I have no idea what happened to Yoobin. The pain probably got too intense for her and so it went back to Siyeon.”  
Jungkook remembered when this had happened to BTS, without the part where the pain came back to him. Namjoon and Hoseok hadn’t told him about it for weeks, until finally, Namjoon had come up with his theory and started to help Jungkook control his ability. Now he was mostly dumping the pain that was inside of him on whoever Namjoon told him to. Of course he felt bad for that, but the pain had to go somewhere. Sometimes, which made him feel even worse, he just randomly dumped the pain onto people on the street. The guilt used to eat him up, but in the end, he didn’t choose this ability and the people could handle a bit of pain, he had to endure much more. At least, that’s what Namjoon always told him and most of the time, Jungkook believed it.   
“Siyeon can’t know, “ Minji said. “Not before Yoobin is fine again.”  
“Where is Yoobin?” he asked.   
“In the bedroom. After Julian Reed’s torture, she didn’t wake up. Handong did… something to her and says that she’s sleeping without any dream right now. I just hope she wakes up again.” Yoohyeon looked worriedly to the next room.   
“She will, “ Handong promised. “She just needs to rest a bit.”

BiTerS

RM [07:58 am]: I want to work with this Controller.   
Suga [08:03 am]: Patient.   
J-Hope [08:05 am]: she’s fucking scary  
J-Hope [08:06 am]: I saw her controlling a storm  
Jungkook [08:09 am]: When did you see that?  
Jin [08:15 am]: That Controller is even more useful than another paincatcher  
Jimin [08:20 am]: The Dreamdestroyer could also be of use  
J-Hope [08:22 am]: the destroyer can’t control her ability at all  
RM [08:24 am]: I want to work with the whole circle.   
RM [08:25 am]: If we free them from GoodSleep, they will trust us.   
RM [08:26 am]: Let’s attack this Julian Reed. Full force.   
J-Hope [08:29 am]: I think Jungkook has enough pain to make this piece of shit scream  
Jungkook [08:34 am]: Definitely.   
V [08:40 am]: I saw something in my dream.   
V [08:41 am]: We have to be careful with GoodSleep  
V [08:41 am]: No inviting them to our dreams  
RM [08:50 am]: Let’s meet in an hour

***YOOBIN***

She woke up feeling good. The pain she was feeling was just about as bad as her period cramps, a pain she used to find absolutely terrible, but compared to what she had been feeling over the last few days, this felt like a paper cut.   
Yoohyeon was sitting on the bed next to her, holding her hand. When she noticed that Yoobin was awake, she just jumped on her to give her some sort of hug. “I love you.”  
She just smiled a bit.   
“I was so worried about you… I am sorry that I didn’t notice that you were in pain over the last few weeks. I am so sorry.” Yoohyeon sat up straight, looking at the ground.   
“Don’t blame yourself. I didn’t want you to know, so I hid it. And you had more important things to worry about.”  
“Please don’t say things like that. Nothing is more important than your safety and well-being.”  
Yoobin now also sat up. “What happened to Siyeon?”  
“She’s fine. Jungkook came and distributed the pain between all of us, “ Yoohyeon told her. “Handong was actually the one that saved you… you should have seen her, taking control over the situation, transferring my energy to you. It was scary but in a good way.”  
“She transferred your energy to me?” Yoobin repeated.   
“I didn’t notice anything, but apparently, she did.”  
“I AM SO GLAD THAT YOU ARE ALIVE, “ Minji yelled while opening the door of Yoobin’s bedroom. “Please don’t ever do anything like that again. You could have talked to me or Yoohyeon about it… I get why you didn’t want Siyeon to know, but you could have told us. We are always here for you, you know? We would have find a way to handle this situation before it escalated like that. We decided to trust each other and it’s important that we share things like that.”  
“I’m sorry, “ Yoobin just said. She didn’t try to explain why she didn’t tell them. It was obvious for Minji, she had just met her a few weeks ago and she seemed really close to Siyeon, so that wasn’t an option. Why she hid it from Yoohyeon was a more complicated question, as she trusted her with everything, usually. “How did I get here, by the way?”  
“We carried you, “ Minji responded. “Siyeon seemed like she wanted to be alone after everything that happened, so we decided that it was best to take you home.”  
“I’m sorry that I just let that pain go and get Siyeon.”  
Yoohyeon lightly hit her. “You are apologizing for that? You lived through hellish pain for weeks without saying a word and you held onto it till you were almost dead and you are apologizing for that?”  
Yoobin nodded. “The pain wasn’t that bad. I could have hold onto it longer.”  
“I am feeling a small part of this pain right now and I feel like I am dying, “ Minji said. “Jungkook said what you felt was 10, 20 times worse than what we are feeling right now. So I can safely say that the pain was that bad. And you were close to dead because of it. It’s a miracle you held onto it so long anyway… so don’t feel bad for letting it go. You carried that burden on your own and didn’t say a word and that was incredibly strong but also fucking stupid and I don’t want anything like that to ever happen again.”  
She was close to apologizing again, but instead she just nodded.

***SIYEON***

She closed her hands around her passport, trying to calm down. She had almost made it, in two hours her plane to Germany would take off and she would be out of here. Far away from her circle.   
It had not been a hard decision to make. After everything that had happened to Yoobin and the others, it was clear for her that she had to stay away from them to protect them. She didn’t want to cause them any more pain. So she would leave their lives. It would be better for all of them.   
Of course there was a chance that the distance wouldn’t change anything, but she didn’t wanna think about. Her life would be incredibly hard for the next few weeks. She only went to Germany because it was the next flight with an empty seat she could afford. The plan was to only stay there for a few days and then take a flight to South America and start a new life there. A life full of nightmares, but they would only be hurting her and no one around her. It would probably be a lonely life, but she would make the best out of it.   
Money was another big problem. She calculated that she could last about a month in South America with her few savings, at the very best. So she would have to find a job immediately, which would be another challenge as she didn’t understand a word of Spanish or Portuguese and was not anywhere near fluent in English. Her Korean wouldn’t get her far in South America, would it?  
But those were worries for the future. First, she had to get out of this country and away from her circle. During her waiting period, she read through her goodbye messages once again. She would send them right before the plane took off and then destroy her phone.

to KIM NAMJOON: Please protect my girls from Julian Reed. Stop his torture. Do everything you can. Please.   
to HOSEOK: Can you continue to take care of my circle? Thank you for what you have done for us. I hope you can lead the happy life you are dreaming of, with lots of Sprite.   
to MINJI: I’m leaving the country to keep you and the rest of the circle safe from my powers. You don’t have to understand my decision, but please accept it. I love you so much. You are the best friend I have ever had. I will miss you a lot, but please don’t try to to find me. Live a happy life!   
to DANCING FLAMINGOS: Don’t look for me. I am doing this for all of you.   
to YOOBIN: I am sorry for the pain that I caused you. I won’t let myself cause you more pain. Thank you for helping me when I needed you. I hope you can enjoy your dreams at the beach again soon!

Just when she wanted to rewrite her message to Minji, she received a text from her.

MINJI

Minji [08:09 pm]: Where r u?  
Minji [08:10 pm]: Yoobin’s awake and fine  
Minji [08:11 pm]: we’re standing in front of ur apartment  
Minji [08:11 pm]: Hoseok’s here too  
Minji [08:11 pm]: Are you okay?  
Minji [08:11 pm]: Where are you?  
Siyeon [08:15 pm]: I’m fine, sorry, I am at home, I just don’t wanna let you in.   
Siyeon [08:15 pm]: I can’t handle it tonight. Please go somewhere else.   
Minji [08:16 pm]: WHERE ARE YOU? SERIOULSY I AM WORRIED  
Minji [08:17 pm]: PLEASE TELL ME WHERE YOU ARE  
Minji [08:17 pm]: Siyeon???  
Minji [08:17 pm]: I am really worried right now  
Minji [08:17 pm]: I know you are not at home  
Minji [08:17 pm]: Why are you lying?  
Minji [08:17 pm]: Tell me what I can do to help you  
Siyeon [08:18 pm]: I just need one night of peace, sorry

She turned her phone off.

“A PAINCATCHER BUDDY!” a woman around her age was standing in front of her, smiling at her brightly. “I am also a paincatcher. Can I sit down next to you?”  
Siyeon found her suspicious. “How do you know what I am?”  
“I can feel your pain and that just can only be the pain of another paincatcher, “ the woman explained. “Now, can I sit next to you or would that bother you?”  
She shrugged. In all the scenarios she had thought up, a strange woman appearing hadn’t been one of them. But maybe she belonged to GoodSleep. Or Namjoon could have possibly sent her. She definitely had to be careful.   
“What’s your name?” the other paincatcher asked.   
If she really was sent by GoodSleep or Namjoon, she would already know her name, so she saw no harm in telling her. “I am Siyeon.”  
“Nice to meet you. You can call me Sorn. I have never met another paincatcher just out and on the street, this is so exciting!”   
“Same for me, “ Siyeon said.   
Sorn smiled at her. “Pleasure or business trip?”  
“Kind of pleasure.”  
“Don’t you just hate flights? I always have the worst nightmares whenever I sleep on a plane, or even after a flight.”  
Sorn didn’t seem to get that Siyeon wasn’t in the mood to talk to her. “I’ve never been on a plane before.”  
“Oh! I’m very sensitive when it comes to fear so I soak that up a lot and there are so many people afraid of flying… Maybe it’s better for you.”   
“What about you? Pleasure or business?”  
“I’m visiting my family in Thailand.”   
There was a moment of silence between them. Siyeon was debating whether she should just make up an excuse to get away from the stranger, when suddenly, her pain felt a lot better.   
“I’m sorry! I had to take some of your pain, I just couldn’t bear sitting beside you not doing anything about it, “ Sorn explained.   
“Thanks, “ Siyeon said. “You didn’t have to do that, but thank you.”  
“No problem. Are you part of an organization for dreamers?”   
“What kind of organization?” She was confused. Neither Namjoon nor Bora had ever mentioned any organizations.   
“I am part of an international organization for dreamers called Oneiroi, together with my circle. It’s the best thing to ever happen to me. My life was hell before I joined them, but now I can actually sleep at night and control my ability and I am just so much happier. If you’re interested, you should look us up. Oneiroi, like those things from Greek Mythology. We have a website that is disguised as just some random dream forum, where you can set up a meeting with Oneiroi and join us.”   
“What does this organization do for us dreamers?” Siyeon asked.   
“Well, once you’ve joined, they help you with your ability. They tell you everything they can about it. There are groups for the individual abilities where they can exchange their experiences and help each other with things. If you wanna join a circle, you will find people there and the organization will provide the guidance that is needed. You can receive help for free, but it’s very much appreciated if dreamers donate a bit, because of course they need money. Those donations are incredibly important. I can promise you, Oneiroi is completely financed through these donations, not through shady business like some other companies that call themselves dreamer organizations.”  
It sounded too perfect to be true. Siyeon would remember the name, in case she needed help once she was in South America. “How did you find out about this organization?”  
“Google. I read something about really painful nightmares with a number to contact that promised to help you with them. I was so desperate that I tried. It turned out that I was talking to someone from Oneiroi, who figured out that I was a paincatcher and got me into the organization. Where I met my circle. It was the best thing to ever happen to me.”  
That method of finding other dreamers to join seemed a lot better than Julian Reed’s “Invite and Torture”-tactic. Sorn seemed to be a nice and open person, so Siyeon decided to take a chance. She would be taking off to Germany in a few hours anyway. “Did you ever have difficulties with your circle and your ability… affecting other members?”  
“Of course. Oneiroi made sure that I knew how to control my ability before I entered the circle, so that prevented the worst from happening. But there were a few incidents were our Inviters received some of my pain.”  
Siyeon looked at the floor. If she just had known how to control her ability before joining the circle. It had been dumb to just jump straight into the circle, not even knowing their own abilities, excepting the circle to magically change everything for them.   
Sorn stared at her with a knowing smile. “You’re running away from your circle, right? You clashed with the Inviter and now you are running away thinking that it will solve the problem?”  
She nodded. There was no point denying it now. “Our Inviter almost died because of me.”  
“Almost died?” Sorn gasped. “That’s bad. I get why you are trying to escape… you probably think it will keep her safe. I can tell you, it won’t. Once you have formed a circle, distance doesn’t mean anything.”  
“What do you mean?” Siyeon said. “That it doesn’t matter how far away we are, I will still transfer my pain to Yoobin?”  
“Yes. Distance is not the solution, trust me. The best way to stop it is controlling your ability.”  
“Any tips?”  
“I learned it through music. You may have noticed how many dreamers are really into music, right? That has a reason. Music can help us in so many ways. So what I did was singing songs about pain. I don’t know, I was just so aware of the pain inside of me in those moments while singing. And then I tried to sing in my dreams to control how I released the pain. It helped a lot, actually. And that way, I became more and more aware of how to control the pain and how to feel it. The next step is concentrating on other people, finding their pain, knowing how to take it away. And once you are familiar of both of these things, you can slowly get more and more control over your ability and the pain.” Sorn was still smiling. “You can try different things. But don’t try running away, it won’t work.”  
Should she listen to Sorn? During their short conversation, Siyeon already had gotten the feeling that she could trust the other girl. Maybe her plan of leaving the country really was the wrong way to go. It was also weak and cowardly.   
She turned on her phone.

MINJI

Siyeon [08:46 pm]: I’m coming home soon. Sorry. Will tell you everything later.

Sorn took the phone out of her hand, created a new contact and typed in a number. “Contact me if you want to know anything else or just wanna chat about anything.” She gave her the phone back and stood up. “I hope everything goes well with your circle. Please consider joining Oneiroi, it really is helpful. It was a pleasure to meet you, Siyeon.”  
Siyeon also stood up and impulsively hugged Sorn. “Thank you.”  
Sorn hugged her back hard. “We paincatchers have to help each other.”

***HOSEOK***

He still hadn’t figured out what went wrong last night, probably he had just been too late or something. This night, he succeeded again and all the girls ended up in his dream which was, for whatever reason, set in a big van. He was driving, Siyeon next to him, behind them Minji and Yoohyeon, then Bora and Gahyeon and in the very back Handong and Yoobin. It was probably for the best that that Controller was far away from him, she did scare him a bit after he saw her dream sequence.   
“Okay, I think we all deserve a night of fun after everything that has happened, don’t you?” he said. “I have no idea where we are, but let’s find some cool place to go to.”  
“Teach us how to control our abilities, “ Minji demanded. “We don’t have the time for a night of fun.”  
Before he could say anything, Siyeon turned on the radio. A song that BTS themselves had written started playing, it had been stuck in Hoseok’s head for a few days now.   
“Can you play some rock music?” Siyeon asked.   
Hoseok shrugged. “What do you wanna listen to?”  
It took a few tries till Siyeon found a rock song Hoseok knew and was able to play in his dream. She immediately started to sing along to the lyrics, closing her eyes, looking like she was really feeling the music. Hoseok had no idea why she suddenly was so keen on listening to music instead of working on her ability, but it was certainly closer to a night of fun than talking about dreamer stuff was.   
Bora in the back started to complain about them doing nothing. “I’m so exhausted. We have to finally solve this situation.”  
Hoseok sighed. Bora was right, of course she was, but Hoseok was also tired and he didn’t really know how to effectively help the circle. He was relying on Namjoon to come up with something, because all he had been doing over the past few nights had been improvising and coming up with some shit that could theoretically help them, maybe.   
Siyeon turned around to Bora. “Just feel the music, “ she ordered and returned to her little performance.   
Minji leaned over to Bora and said something to her Hoseok couldn’t understand.   
When Hoseok had finally managed to play the next song Siyeon demanded, the whole circle joined in and sang along. It was a nice moment, just driving through the night listening to music. This was probably just what they had needed.   
Until Siyeon excitedly interrupted her mimicking of the guitar solo and turned around to the rest. “Do you feel that?”  
They all nodded.   
“What do you feel?” Hoseok asked hesitantly.   
“Our connection, “ Gahyeon declared. “I think this is the key to control our shared dreams.”  
“And I feel the pain so clearly. In myself and all of us, “ Siyeon added.   
Minji was grinning widely. “Watch this, “ she said and suddenly, the car disappeared and they were just standing in nothing.   
“What the fuck?” Hoseok wanted the car back. He didn’t really feel comfortable in nothing. He tried to change his dream, but he couldn’t.   
Siyeon hugged Minji. “You’ve got it!”  
“And all of this just from listening to some music, “ Minji said. “We finally found a way to master our abilities!”  
Something in Hoseok made click. Now he finally understood why Namjoon had always been so keen on singing and dancing with them. Music was the key to dreamer stuff.   
With a smile, Minji ended the dream.


	40. 2/8: DANCING IN BLOOD - HOSEOK

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> don't hate me for this.

_Hoseok was dancing. His moves were incredibly powerful and they were bearing so much emotion. It was raining, his hair was completely wet, his white shirt was drenched from the rain. It was a peaceful moment, a wonderful moment. Until the rain started to color his shirt red. Tears were streaming down his face now, but he kept on dancing. It looked like that was the only thing keeping him alive._

SUGA BABE

J-Hope [10:16 pm]: It’s just a matter of time until they cut me out  
J-Hope [10:16 pm]: With music they will master their abilities in no time and then they won’t need us at all anymore  
Suga babe [10:20 pm]: We have to talk to Namjoon  
Suga babe [10:21 pm]: They’ll probably be able to handle Julian Reed themselves now if their dreamdestroyer and controller learn how to do their thing  
Suga babe [10:22 pm]: Namjoon has to make his move now if he really wants that circle to join us  
J-Hope [10:23 pm]: I don’t think they ever will we really fucked that up bad  
Suga babe [10:24 pm]: Aren’t you supposed to be the optimistic one?   
Suga babe [10:24 pm]: We just have to show them our good side  
J-Hope [10:27 pm]: I think our chances would be a bit higher if Namjoon would tell them what his plan is  
J-Hope [10:27 pm]: They have no idea what he wants  
Suga babe [10:27 pm]: I guess  
Suga babe [10:28 pm]: I’ll talk to Namjoon  
Suga babe [10:29 pm]: Aren’t you with them right now?  
J-Hope [10:32 pm]: I am but they are doing their own thing with the music rn  
J-Hope [10:33 pm]: but we are going to bed soon  
Suga babe [10:34 pm]: Good luck  
Suga babe [10:34 pm]: I hope you get a bit of rest  
J-Hope [10:35 pm]: love u

Hoseok had no chance. The wave of unfamiliar energy hit him with such a force that he couldn’t do anything to resist it. Someone he didn’t know had invited him to their dream.   
He was sitting in what looked like a conference room, the rest of his circle was sitting at the long table as well. He knew straight away what was going on. GoodSleep had found them.   
Namjoon had been warning them that this was a possibility. Their leader seemed to know more about GoodSleep than he had told them. That wasn’t surprising, Namjoon always knew more than he told them. Hoseok just really hoped that he used his knowledge to come up with a good plan to get them out of there.   
A man in a suit was sitting opposite of them and Hoseok suspected that it was Julian Reed. “Welcome to GoodSleep! I hear you call your circle BTS?”  
They didn’t react.   
“Let’s jump straight to the business. We want you to work for our company, “ he said and handed Namjoon a piece of a paper. “We offer support for people who have problems with their dreams, especially with nightmares. Dreamer abilities come in handy for that. My sources tell me that you are very experienced, so it would be an honor for us to work with you. You can see the details on how much we would pay you on the contract I’ve just given you.”  
“We are not interested, “ Namjoon declared.   
“Sure you don’t wanna take a night to think about it?” Julian asked.   
“No.”  
“Do you all agree with that?” He looked at the other dreamers. Hoseok just nodded when his eyes landed on him. The others also voiced their agreement in some form.   
“That’s sad.” Julian sighed. “I would love to let you reconsider this, but we don’t have the time for that.” He clapped once and the dream changed.   
Hoseok was sitting on a chair that looked suspiciously like the electric chairs he had seen on TV. His hands and legs were tied tightly to it and some sort of metal device was placed on his head.   
Julian Reed would torture them just as he had tortured the girls. And Namjoon didn’t seem to have a plan at all.   
Panic rose inside of him. Was there any way to get out of this situation?   
Julian Reed appeared in front of him. “You are interfering with our work. I’m giving you one last chance. Sign a contract with us and…”  
Hoseok didn’t hear the end of his talk because he woke up.   
Handong was standing over him, a worried look on her face. “I felt Julian Reed’s energy around you, so I thought it would be best to just wake you up straight away. Are you alright? Did he torture you?”  
He slowly sat up and looked around. The other girls were still sleeping peacefully.   
“He wanted to, but you woke me up fast enough.” A sigh of relief escaped Hoseok’s lips. He had never been good with handling pain and the torture would definitely have been too much for him. “My circle’s still with him though. I have to wake them up as well.”  
“What did he want?” Handong asked.   
“He asked us to sign a contract. And he said something about us interfering with their work, so I guess he meant you. How he knows that we are helping you though… I have no idea. I am so confused.” Hoseok stood up and walked over to his phone.   
He spent the next time trying to call the other members. They didn’t pick up. They didn’t seem to wake up from it.   
Handong was still the only one awake, looking at him from the other side of the room. “That’s obviously not working. What if you go to sleep and invite them to your dream? Would that work and overpower Julian Reed?”  
“I don’t think so. He seems to be extremely powerful. I could drive to our apartment, it’s close.”  
“I’m coming with you, “ Handong said.

***HANDONG***

Handong had felt many bad things over the course of the last few weeks, but nothing compared to what she felt in that moment. They were standing in front of the building in which BTS lived. It was close enough for her to feel the dream network surrounding the boys. And it was bad.   
She took Hoseok’s hand and ran. She couldn’t bear standing in an elevator now, so she pulled him to the stairs. It was not even necessary for her to ask where they had to go. The dark energy alone was enough to guide her to the right apartment. She tried to do something about the energy on their way, but she couldn’t. For some reason, she wasn’t able to do anything.   
When they finally reached the door, Hoseok was in too much of a panic to do open it, so Handong’s instincts took over and she successfully kicked it in. She didn’t have time to be shocked about what she had just done. They needed to wake up BTS right now.   
She started to scream and shout, making as much noise as she could. Nothing happened.   
“WAKE UP!” Hoseok joined in and ran into another room. “WAKE UP, YOONGI! WAKE UP.”  
Handong followed him. Three of the boys were lying in that room, not moving. Hoseok was shaking one of them at his shoulders, desperately begging him to wake up.   
She went over to another one of them and tried everything. It reminded her of Yoobin just a few nights ago. It had been exactly like that. The boy was still breathing and she could still feel his energy, but he didn’t wake up. Handong could still feel Julian Reed’s energy around them, but when she tried to push it away, nothing happened. She was too weak.   
“What do we do?” Hoseok asked, tears streaming down his face. “What do we do?”  
“I don’t know. I can’t get them out of Julian’s dream… he is too strong.” She thought about it for a moment. “Let’s call my circle over. Maybe Minji can help.”

***BORA***

Minji couldn’t help. The only thing that changed was that now there were eight people standing around the sleeping boys panicking instead of two. Bora had a bad feeling about this. She knew Julian and she knew what he was capable of.   
“There is so much pain…” Siyeon said. “I can’t stay here much longer.”  
“Question: How did you wake up Hoseok?” Yoobin asked Handong. “How did he get out of the dream?”  
“I have no idea.”   
“Hoseok, do you know anyone else who knows stuff about dreamers and who could possibly help us?” Minji wanted to know.   
He shook his head. “Namjoon was my only source of knowledge, really.”  
“I’m gonna go catch some air, “ Siyeon suddenly declared and left the the room. The pain was probably getting too much for her.   
“What about Bora? She could ask her sources, “ Yoohyeon suggested.   
Bad idea. Her sources were responsible for all of this. “I don’t think my source would be very helpful…”  
“Can you please try it?” Hoseok begged. “Asking them can’t hurt, right?”  
Bora sighed. “I suppose not.” Asking could hurt a lot when you worked with GoodSleep, she’d learned that the hard way. “I am gonna go outside to call them.”   
In the hallway she didn’t even bother taking out her phone. She would just go back in in a few minutes and tell them that her sources didn’t know anything. Or should she tell them the truth about what she thought was happening? That Julian did to BTS exactly what he had threatened to do her circle? Would Hoseok be able to handle the truth?  
That’s when Bora heard Siyeon’s voice from around the corner. “I’m sorry for waking you up… I need your help… Some friends of mine were invited into the dream of someone and now they are not waking up. We tried everything… yes, there’s a lot of pain…” There was a really long pause. “Thank you.”  
Bora went back in the apartment before Siyeon could see her eavesdropping. Who had she been talking to? Who else did Siyeon know who had connections to dreamers? Did Namjoon introduce her to someone? She was really confused.   
“And? Did you find out anything?” Yoohyeon asked Bora when she joined the others again.   
“My sources can’t think of anything that could help them, “ she said. “I’m sorry.”  
“If we can’t wake them up, we have to treat them as what they are: coma patients, “ Minji started. “I suggest we take them to the hospital. I know that’s not good for Jungkook, but they know how to take care of comatose people and they will keep them alive.”  
Hoseok shook his head. “We can’t do that. We can’t take them to the hospital.”  
Minji took out her smartphone. “I’ve heard about people taking care of coma patients at home before… but I guess we are gonna need some stuff.”

***SIYEON***

The next days were the worst days of her life. It was even worse than enduring any pain.   
Gahyeon just vanished completely and she didn’t come back. That surprised Siyeon a bit, because Gahyeon had been so close to BTS and now she was the first to run away. But maybe because she was so close to them she couldn’t stand staying. Nobody knew where she was or what she was doing and she didn’t contact them at all.   
Bora visited a few times, but she never stayed long. When she was there, she always looked extremely stressed. She avoided the sleeping boys and she had no idea how they could help them. Surprisingly, she didn’t even have an opinion on the things the others came up with to save BTS. She just let them try whatever they wanted without saying a word.   
Yoohyeon was the one to take care of everyone else. She tried to sleep and see a solution in her dreams, but that didn’t work out. Whenever she wasn’t lying down, she was running around and asking everyone if they needed something. She held Hoseok's hand when he was crying and encouraged the others when they were close to giving up. She was the one to bring them food and force them to sleep.   
Yoobin made it possible for them to rest. She managed to invite everyone, even Hoseok, to her dreams at the beach. It was a quiet place, perfect to cry or make plans what to do next in reality. Right after a dream, everyone seemed to have a bit more hope or looked at least a little more refreshed.   
Handong tried to push away Julian Reed’s energy. For some reason, it was hanging around the boys all the time, as if he was always asleep. Which was impossible, right? Handong was trying to figure out what was going on there. She even called GoodSleep and requested to talk to him to find out whether he was awake or not. The woman on the phone just told her that she had never heard of someone with that name.   
Minji kept the boys alive. She did research, bought equipment and was in constant contact with several doctors online. Basically, she was the only thing responsible for them not dying. Even though she would have preferred going to the hospital, she never complained once that now she had to do all the work. On top of all that, she also tried to snap them out of it using her ability. Siyeon had never felt more admiration and respect for that woman.   
Hoseok was barely alive. He spent most of his time sitting next to Yoongi, holding his hand and begging him to wake up. If he wasn’t on Yoongi’s bed, he was with another BTS member or crying in the bathroom. Siyeon didn’t know how to comfort him. His family would possibly never wake up again. There was nothing she could say to make it better. So she avoided him a bit.   
Avoiding Hoseok wasn’t hard. She only ever stayed in their apartment shortly, before she had to leave because of all the pain. The rest of the time, she saw everything through a video call with Yoobin, who was updating her on everything.   
She also talked to Sorn over the phone several times. Sorn was doing some research in her company to find a way to help her. The other paincatcher didn’t really believe that the boys would wake up at all, but Siyeon begged her to look into it anyway. So far, she didn’t find out anything new.   
At the end of the week, there was basically no bit of hope left in the apartment. The boys wouldn’t wake up. The only thing they could do to save the boys was probably to kill Julian Reed. Siyeon would love to do that… but she didn’t know how to. She had no idea where he was or how she would find him and there was probably a lot of security… So that plan was off the table.   
Maybe it was time to give up.

***HOSEOK***

“Remember when we first met? Namjoon introduced me to you and you just gave me a weird look and didn’t talk to me at all. You didn’t even laugh at my jokes. You just stared at me. I felt like you were judging me. It took you two weeks to finally say a word to me. You intimidated me a lot in the beginning… but I am glad we both overcome that. You are incredibly important to me and I don’t want to lose you. I can’t lose you. Remember when we found out that we both like to rap? Or all the times you showed me the lyrics you wrote after that? I love you so much. Please wake up, Yoongi.”  
He had no energy left to cry. So he just sat there and talked to the most important person in his life. Saying everything he wished he said before. It felt like he was saying goodbye.   
Which was exactly what he had been doing for the past four days.   
He had done it for all of the members of his family. He talked about his memories with them and told them what he loved about them. He sang their songs to them and tried to describe a new choreo he had come up with. Just the tiny little possibility that they could hear him was enough to keep him talking.   
On the tenth day, he called everyone together. He even got Gahyeon to show up for the first time since all of this started. The only one missing was Minji. She had left the day before and no one had been able to reach her after that. She was probably just completely exhausted after taking care of six comatose almost strangers for nine days.   
“It’s time, “ he said. He barely managed not to start crying.   
“Time for what?” Handong asked.   
“Time to give up.”  
Siyeon took his hand. “It’s only been ten days. There is still hope.”  
He shook his head. “I don’t think we should drag this out longer than necessary. It hurts too much.”  
“Let’s give them a month, “ Yoohyeon suggested. “One month. If they aren’t awake after that, we can still…”  
“What exactly are we talking about here?” Yoobin asked. “Actively… ending it?”  
“I was thinking of just leaving the apartment.” He couldn’t hold back his tears anymore. Was he really doing the right thing?   
“We are leaving them to die of thirst?” she repeated.   
Yoohyeon shook her head. “I couldn’t do that.”  
“They are probably still being tortured by Julian Reed in their dreams. We are probably only buying them a few days of more torture. If Hoseok wants to end it, I will support him, “ Gahyeon said. “It’s ti-…”  
Handong suddenly jumped up and interrupted her. “Do you feel that?”  
“Feel what?” he wanted to know, but she was already leaving the living room.   
Hoseok shared an irritated look with Siyeon. Did something in the dream network change?  
“AWAKE!” Handong suddenly yelled from one of the bedrooms. “NAMJOON’S AWAKE.”

He was lying in his bed, looking the exact same way he had for the last few days. Just that he had lifted his hand a bit into the air.   
Hoseok immediately grabbed it. “It’s okay. I am here.”  
“What about the others?” Siyeon asked.   
Handong shook her head. “Still the same.”  
Namjoon moved his fingers a bit in Hoseok’s hand. It was the best feeling in the world. He was awake. He was alive.   
He moved his lips a bit, but there was no sound. Yoohyeon sat down next to him with a glass of water and a straw. “Take your time.”  
After he emptied the glass of water, he weakly pointed at Siyeon. “Stop… Minji.”  
“What about Minji?” Hoseok asked.   
Siyeon stared at Namjoon. “Fuck.”


	41. 3/8: SELLING A SOUL - MINJI

_Minji was sitting opposite of the devil. He was smiling at her, giving her a supportive nod. Her expression was full of determination as she stuck out her hand and cut open the inner surface of it with a knife. The blood dropped onto the table before the devil mirrored her actions and took her hand. Their blood mixed. They had a deal._

She had to do this. She couldn’t let six people die. She couldn’t stand seeing her friends in constant fear of being tortured when falling asleep. She couldn’t let this destroy 14 lives. It was better if it only destroyed one. After all, her ability wasn’t something you could use to torture people. She was the only one suffering from this decision, right?  
Julian Reed was smiling brightly at her. “You are doing a noble thing, Kim Minji. I admire your strength. I’ve woken up Namjoon. You should receive a text that he is well and alive in a few minutes.”  
She just nodded.   
“Now, the contract.” Julian Reed pushed it towards her on the table. “Are you ready to sign?”  
She nodded again. She quickly read over it again, even though she had already done so a few minutes ago, and then signed her name under the last page.   
Julian Reed grinned. “Kim Minji. From now on I will be calling you… Jiu. It’s not smart to work with your real name in this business. Welcome to the GoodSleep family, Jiu.”

***SIYEON***

“Minji’s signing a contract with GoodSleep, “ she explained to the others.   
“What?” Gahyeon jumped up. “Right now?”  
“Right now. We have to find her and stop her before it’s too late.”  
“It’s already too late, “ Bora said. “She already signed.”  
“How do you know that?” Siyeon asked.   
“Take a look at your phone.”

DANCING FLAMINGOS

Minji [10:11 am]: I am sorry. I had to do this.   
Minji [10:11 am]: I signed the contract so that Julian would let BTS go. Are they awake?

Siyeon wanted to throw her phone against the wall.   
“She really did this to save BTS?” Handong asked.   
“Minji…” Yoobin sighed. “Can we somehow get her out of the contract?”  
“No way, “ Bora said. “GoodSleep is very thorough. There is no way to get her out now.”  
“There has to be a way.” Hoseok let go of Namjoon and stepped closer to them. “She did this for my boys. I will not stop until she is free again.”  
“She is so strong, “ Yoohyeon said. “I won’t stop either.”  
Gahyeon shook her head. “She is just plain up stupid. She did all of this for nothing.”  
“What do you mean, for nothing?” Siyeon asked. “She saved BTS with this.”  
“Did she?” Gahyeon asked and gestured towards the other rooms. “The only one who woke up is Namjoon.”  
“So the rest is still in a coma?” Hoseok sat down next to Namjoon again.   
Handong came into the room. “It’s even worse than that. They stopped breathing.”

Again, Handong was the one to take over and orchestrate everything. Siyeon, and probably everyone else as well, was glad that she led them through this.   
“Yoohyeon, Yoobin, you take Namjoon and Hoseok and leave. Go to your apartment and take care of them, okay? The rest stays here.”   
Everyone did as she said. It took some persuasion to get Hoseok to leave with Yoobin and Yoohyeon and it took several of them to get Namjoon out of his bed and into a taxi. Bora somehow managed to sneak out during all of that, so the only ones left to deal with the dead bodies were Handong, Gahyeon and Siyeon.   
Siyeon felt empty while she followed the tasks she was given. Handong had come up with a believable lie about how the boys died. The five boys had left their stove on overnight and that killed them in their sleep. There were a lot of holes in that plan, but hopefully, the police wouldn’t investigate further into this. After all, there was probably a lot of evidence for the girl’s presence in the apartment and possibly even witnesses that had seen them entering it over the past week. If they performed an autopsy, they might also be screwed. But Handong told them not to worry about that too much.   
So Siyeon didn’t. She just helped Gahyeon destroy all the evidence that they had ever been in the apartment. Handong meanwhile figured out how to make her lie look believable.   
“What if we just blow up the apartment?” Gahyeon suggested.   
“We can’t just blow up an apartment. There are other people living in this building, “ Siyeon said.   
They continued their work. Siyeon wondered what she was supposed to do with Minji’s equipment for taking care of comatose people. But she couldn’t concentrate on that problem. She just kept on thinking about the fact that Minji had destroyed her own life for nothing. Hell, her signing the contract had even made it worse. There had still been a chance of them waking up from the coma. Now they were just dead.   
Gahyeon was right. Minji really was just plain up stupid.

***BORA***

Minji didn’t look the least bit surprised when she saw Bora in the GoodSleep building. “I knew it.”  
“I guess I wasn’t the best at not being suspicious, “ she said. It was not new for her that she was bad at hiding things. She was surprised that her circle hadn’t really confronted her before. They didn’t trust her, that was noticeable, but they had just accepted her in their circle for some reason.   
“So, I’ll be calling you Sua from now on?” Minji asked.   
“That’s right, Jiu. I hope you don’t mind that I volunteered to show you around. It was time that we talked.” She had basically rushed over here as soon as possible because she didn’t want to give some of the people here the chance to get close to Minji. The least Bora could do for her was to show her how it worked around here and who to avoid.   
“I know I shouldn’t be, because you lied to us and all that, but I am still glad that you are here.” Minji smiled at her. “After all, we are a circle and that’s kind of like a family, right?”  
“Kind of, “ Bora repeated.   
“So, what will happen now?”   
“First, they are probably gonna train you for a bit longer. You’re not quite there with your ability yet. Don’t expect their training to be anything like Hoseok’s. No music, no laughter, no fun. I spent a week in an isolation cell here because they thought that would be a good method to help me with my ability. And that’s just one of the many possibilities that they could try with you.”  
“What about after the training?”  
“After the training… it gets worse. Once they decide that you are good enough to start working, they give you a target. I usually just have to watch the dreams of certain people and write reports about them. They don’t tell you why you are spying on that person or what information they are looking for exactly, you just write down every little detail. You sometimes watch the same person’s dreams for weeks or months. That’s how I found out about Siyeon.”  
“Wait, what?” That actually seemed to throw Minji off. “Siyeon was your target?”  
“Yeah. I started seeing her dreams a few weeks before I met her on the streets. She’s the reason I joined your group. My boss wants her because of her ability. Paincatcher are incredibly useful in this business. You can imagine why, I mean you know how much they are into torture.”  
“How did that work? How did they find Siyeon?”  
“She went to see a psychiatrist because  of her dreams, right? Before she saw Namjoon. Well, GoodSleep has an eye everywhere and they saw that she was trying desperately to get rid of her nightmares. The bigger problem is letting the Eye read the target’s energy. You don’t know how many hours I’ve waited in front of the shop she works in till I finally knew her energy and was able to see her dreams. When I saw her on the streets and she straight away asked me to join her dream-sharing group… that was pure luck.”  
“Is a paincatcher really worth all that effort?”   
“You don’t realize how rare paincatchers are, do you? It’s hard to find one. And it’s even harder to get them to work for you. But it’s incredibly easy to make a lot of money with them once they work for you. So, yes, the effort is worth it for the company.”  
“So, I will get a target. And then what?” she asked.   
“I don’t know.” Now that she thought about it, it was highly likely that they would experiment with Minji’s ability to find out exactly what she was capable of. Ending dreams and knowing what is real and what not wasn’t really all too useful in this business, was it? But Bora was sure that they would find a way to use Minji’s ability for the best.  
They awkwardly stood there for a moment.   
“How are the boys?” Minji finally wanted to know.   
Bora had almost forgotten about that. No one had told her about it. Of course not. How should she tell her that her sacrifice was for nothing? That Julian Reed had lied to her? That she had been fooled?  
“Only Namjoon made it.”  
Minji didn’t say anything. She just turned around and stormed off.

***JULIAN REED***

He knew what was going on when Jiu stood in front of him, staring at him like she wanted to kill him. Of course she wanted to do that. He had killed of five men even though he had made a deal with her to keep them safe.   
“The contract’s invalid. You didn’t keep up your part of the agreement. So neither will I, “ she announced.   
He laughed. Did she actually believe that he didn’t have it all planned out? “You can read our agreement again. Where does it say that I will bring them back alive? It only says that I will release them from the dream. I did just that.”  
“You killed them.”  
“But I did release them from the dream. The contract is valid, I held up my part of the agreement. There is no backing out now, Jiu. Or do you want to end up the same way your five friends did? By the way, did Sua tell you about this?”  
She nodded.   
“So, I see you two have talked. I was a bit skeptical to let her show you around, but you are part of the same circle, so I wouldn’t have been able to keep you apart forever.”  
“So I will still share dreams with my circle?” she asked.   
“Sure. After all, it would be great if your whole circle would join our company. Maybe you and Sua can convince them together.”  
“You said you would stay away from my circle if I signed.”  
He laughed again. “I said I wouldn’t invite them to my dreams anymore. But you are working for me now, so you can get them to sign for me.”  
“They will never do that.”  
“You probably thought the same thing about yourself just a few days back, didn’t you?”  
Minji just shrugged. He knew that she didn’t want her circle to sign with GoodSleep, of course she didn’t want them to. But sooner or later, he would have all seven girls working for him. He’d make his boss proud.   
No matter the cost.


	42. 4/8: KILLING WITH PAIN - SIYEON

_Siyeon was surrounded by shadows, knives were sticking out of her whole body and there were even more thrown at her. She closed her eyes, slowly pulling out one of them. With a determined look at her face, she threw it at the shadow right in front of her. She took out knife after knife, throwing all of them into the crowd of shadows, until all of them disappeared and there were no knives left inside of her body._

Siyeon couldn’t think clearly anymore.   
Maybe that was because of all the anger and all the fear she was feeling inside of her. They hadn’t heard a word from Minji for days. She didn’t appear in their dreams. She didn’t answer her phone. She didn’t show up at her apartment. She was just missing. Julian Reed was probably torturing her somewhere, but she didn’t like to think about that. It was also possible that she found a way to escape and was enjoying her life in a foreign country now.   
Maybe that was because of the deaths of the BTS boys. Not only had five people she personally knew and kind of liked passed away, no, she had also been present when they did. And to top that, Hoseok’s and Namjoon’s grief was so painful that it felt like it would kill Siyeon. So she spent a lot of time with both of them, even though they didn’t really talk to her. They didn’t really do anything, to be honest. They just sat there, holding each other, staring at the walls or the ceiling or elsewhere. Now they had to plan the funeral, but Yoohyeon and Yoobin were doing most of the work for that.   
Maybe that was because of all the pain inside of her. She visited the hospital several times a day to soak in as much pain as possible without dying. She couldn’t really move without being on the verge of screaming, but the more pain she took in, the emptier she felt. It came to a point where even thinking about screaming was too exhausting and too much.   
At night, she needed all of her concentration not to release the pain. It was easier during the day. She slept as little as possible. They shared dreams again and ended up at strange places, but they mostly just sat down and waited for the night to end. She was a bit disappointed that no one was hurt during the dreams, but she was probably already gathering enough pain as it was.   
After four days, she decided she was ready. Or rather, she didn’t feel like she would be able to do it much longer. Finding out where she could find GoodSleep was easier than expected. Google Maps took her straight to their new office in Seoul. At the reception, she just said the name Julian Reed and that she was here for a job interview and was immediately sent to the right floor.   
Julian Reed was expecting her with a wide grin. “I assume you are here to sign the contract? Just as your little friend did.”  
She didn’t bother responding to him. She searched her surroundings one last time and took in any pain she could find. Then she focused on Julian Reed.   
And she let go.

***MINJI***

Julian Reed was dead.  
She had had an appointment with Julian Reed that day. He hadn’t talked to her since she had confronted him because of the BTS situation. Over her last few days, a few scientists had been playing with her and testing her, measuring her brain activity while she was sleeping and things like that. It was annoying, but a thousand times better than being tortured.    
When she had entered his office, he had just been lying on the floor. She went to check his pulse and breathing, but there was nothing. He was dead.   
It was possibly the best thing to happen to her. Maybe now she would get a chance to cancel her contract with GoodSleep. At least she wouldn’t have to be afraid of her circle being invited into his dreams anymore.   
She didn’t know how he died, but she didn’t really care. He was dead. That was all that counted, really.

***BORA***

Minji [03:02 pm]: Julian Reed is dead.   
Minji [03:02 pm]: This is my chance to leave GoodSleep  
Minji [03:02 pm]: Wanna join me?  
Bora [03:10 pm]: Go to the coffee shop around the corner  
Bora [03:10 pm]: ask for me

Minji knew that she had no reason to trust Bora at all, but she felt like Bora was on their side, deep down. After all, she probably also had no other choice than to work with GoodSleep and do whatever they said, just like Minji herself. But now was their chance to get out and Bora was part of her circle, so it was just fair to take her with her.   
So she left the GoodSleep building for the first time since signing the contract. Apparently, no one had noticed Julian’s death yet. The scientists she was usually working with probably thought that she was still talking to him. No one bothered her at all when she just walked out. It was unbelievably easy.   
In the coffee shop, she stepped up to the counter. “Have you seen a small pretty girl?”  
“Your friend’s waiting for you in the restroom, “ the barista said. “I think she is crying now.”  
Crying? What was going on? Why did Bora send her here?  
When Minji entered the restroom, she was immediately pulled into one of the stalls. Bora indeed looked like she had been crying.   
“What is going on?” she asked.   
“Give me your phone, “ the other girl demanded and expectantly put out her hand.   
“Why?”  
“Just give it to me.”  
Minji hesitantly handed it to her, just so that Bora could throw it onto the ground and step on it. Then she picked it up again and threw it into the toilet. “That’s better.”  
Minji was too shocked to say anything. That phone had been the most expensive thing she owned. And Bora had just destroyed it.   
“Do you think GoodSleep doesn’t spy on us? Because they do. Communicating over phones is very dangerous and talking in the presence of one also is.”  
“Is that why we are meeting here?”  
“Exactly. In the GoodSleep building, they have their ears and eyes everywhere. It’s not safe there.”  
Minji still didn’t understand why Bora didn’t just turn her phone off or something, but she wouldn’t question it. When it came to GoodSleep, it was probably the best to be as safe as possible.   
“This is not a chance to run away, “ Bora said.   
“Why not? Julian Reed is gone.”  
“Julian Reed is nothing more than a tool. He was never the one to keep us here. The big boss has always been our real problem.”  
“The big boss?”  
“She doesn’t use any name. Everyone just calls her the boss. She controls everything in GoodSleep. She is the one who wanted Siyeon and her circle. I guess she is the one who gave Julian the permission to torture us. Now that Julian Reed is gone, things won’t change. Hell, we are lucky if they don’t get worse. The boss trusted Julian Reed. If she doesn’t find a replacement, maybe she will take care of us herself. And she won’t stop until she has our whole circle. That woman gets what she wants.”  
Minji couldn’t possibly imagine things getting worse. “But I still have the contract. They guaranteed me to leave my circle in peace.”  
“Sure that they guaranteed you that? They probably tricked you somehow. They always do.”  
All the excitement Minji had been feeling after finding Julian Reed was gone. Now she just felt fear.   
“What do we do now?”  
“We don’t do anything. We can only wait and see what the boss’s next move is. By the way, how the fuck did Julian Reed die?”  
“I have no idea. He was just lying in his office without a pulse. Maybe he had a heart attack or something like that.”  
Bora didn’t seem convinced by that. “Let’s get back to GoodSleep and try to find out more. Before you go, go buy a coffee. Take it with you to GoodSleep so that it seems like you went for a little coffee break. At times like these, it’s really important not to catch the attention of the boss.”  
“I think me coming back with a coffee will just add to the suspicion. I just found a dead body in an office and instead of reporting it, I just left.”  
She sighed. “I didn’t think about that. That could be a problem. We have to prepare you for a talk with the boss.”  
“What?”  
“Well, one of her best dreamers is dead and you acted suspiciously. And with your ability… it was always just a matter of time till she would have wanted to meet with you personally, “ Bora explained. “Okay, the quick guide of how to not get killed when talking with the boss. First of all, talk as little as possible. If she asks a question, precisely answer it in a short sentence. Second of all, don’t lie. That’s it. Now go. If we stay here any longer, it will just look even more suspicious.”

***YOOBIN***

When Yoobin went to bed, she expected another dream of just sitting around with the rest of the circle minus Minji at some random place. It hit her completely out of the blue when she ended up bound to the same chair she had been bound to many times before. Julian Reed got them again.   
He himself didn’t show up during the whole dream. They were alone in the dream, just sitting on the chairs and waiting to wake up. It was hot in the room, but that was just about the worst thing that was happening. Just as the door opened, she woke up.

DANCING FLAMINGOS

Handong [06:00 am]: Why didn’t he torture us?  
Yoobin [06:01 am]: Maybe he wants to try something new  
Yoobin [06:01 am]: But why is he inviting us now?  
Gahyeon [06:02 am]: BTS is dead. No one’s keeping us safe.  
Siyeon [06:04 am]: It’s not Julian Reed.  
Yoohyeon [06:05 am]: What do you mean?  
Siyeon [06:07 am]: It can’t be Julian Reed  
Siyeon [06:07 am]: It has to be someone else  
Handong [06:08 am]: The energy in the dream felt exactly like Julian’s dream  
Handong [06:08 am]: Why do you say that it can’t be him?  
Siyeon [06:09 am]: Let’s meet up.

“I killed Julian Reed.”  
Yoobin and Yoohyeon had made up many theories on their way to Siyeon’s apartment, but that hadn’t been one of them.   
“You did what?” Namjoon asked. The BTS boys had insisted on coming with them. They had been staying with them for the past days and Namjoon started to make his way into Yoobin’s heart. She still couldn’t forget that he tortured and manipulated Yoohyeon and Siyeon, but he had just lost his family and they had a bigger enemy to fight against.   
“I killed Julian Reed, “ Siyeon repeated.   
“When? How?” Yoobin asked.   
“I took in as much pain as I could. Then I went into his office and dumped it all onto him. I only wanted revenge, but he just collapsed and his heart wasn’t beating anymore. I stayed with him for five minutes I was sure he died.”  
“He must have survived, “ Handong said. “I am sure that the energy felt just like Julian Reed’s.”  
Bora coughed. “Minji told me that he is dead.”  
“Minji contacted you?” Siyeon wanted to know.   
“She texted me.”  
“Why did she text you and not me?” Siyeon checked her phone. “She hasn’t written me since she signed the contract.”  
“Why would she contact Bora? No offense, but she doesn’t even trust you. Siyeon’s her best friend, “ Yoohyeon said.   
“Why are we pretending as if we all don’t already know the truth?” Gahyeon asked. “Bora, you work for GoodSleep. We know. That’s how you know that he really is dead.”  
Bora didn’t try to deny it. The only one in the room who looked even the least bit surprised was Hoseok.   
“If you all knew about that… why did you still trust Bora?” Namjoon wanted to know.   
“She’s part of our circle, “ Yoobin said. “She completes us. And we don’t trust her with everything.”  
Namjoon shook his head. “I don’t understand you at all.”   
“Don’t forget that we worked with you even after everything that you have done to us, “ Yoohyeon reminded him.   
“Bora, this is your chance to be honest with us and earn our trust, “ Siyeon said. “Tell us everything you know.”


	43. 5/8: STABBING IN THE BACK - BORA

_Bora was standing behind a person, one hand resting on their shoulder. In her other hand, she was carrying a knife. With a smile on her face, she lifted the knife. “I’ll always be loyal to you, “ she said, right before she rammed the knife into the back of the person. She laughed as she was pulling out the knife again._

She told them everything. And she started at the very beginning.   
“I was always able to see the dreams of other people. I think I was about 13 when I finally understood what was going on. I tried to research it for the next few years, but I was too afraid to really talk to it about anyone. But then some shit happened in my life and I ended up on the streets. That’s where I first joined a street dancing group, but I needed money. So I started to offer my ability to random people. At first, that wasn’t very successful, but then word about me spread on the internet. People asked me to look into the dreams of partners or family or even their enemies. By the time I was 17, I had enough money to rent out a little apartment. I was happy with the way it was, spending my nights watching the dreams of stranger and my days reporting what I saw to my clients or dancing with my crew. So when GoodSleep found me, I didn’t want to sign with them at first.  
And then I lost everything that was left of my life. My street dancing crew kicked me out because someone told them about my ability and they thought I was insane. My business died down because people on the internet started to call me a liar and made up some bad experience they had with me and my work. Then I caught the police’s attention with my business… That’s when GoodSleep stepped in and saved me. They took care of my issue with the police and they offered me a job again. The boss herself gave me emotional support and got me into a new street dancing crew. I  found out later that that crew was fully made up of dreamers and that the goal of the group was to distract from some shady business the dreamers did for GoodSleep. And then I started to do some shady business for them myself. I fully depend on GoodSleep. I would be living on the street without them. Maybe I wouldn’t have survived up until now.”  
“We can help you get out of there, “ Yoobin said. “We can help you find another job.”  
Bora gave her a sad smile. “That’s nice of you to say, but it’s not that easy to get out of GoodSleep. Remember what they did to get us. If someone wants to leave, they do even worse things to them.”  
“What exactly do you mean by shady business?” Siyeon asked.   
“I spied on people. The boss would give me a target and a place where I could go to check out their energy. After that, I would just watch their dreams for some time and write reports about them. I usually have no idea why I am watching the person’s dream or what exactly the boss wants from them, I just follow her orders, “ she explained.   
“Why did you join our dream-sharing group?”  
“Because of you. You were my target. I watched your dreams for weeks before I met you on the street.”  
“You saw my nightmares?” Siyeon seemed quite upset about that.   
“I did. That’s the reason I talked to you when I saw you. And then you asked me to join your dream-sharing group. My boss was very happy about that and told me to do it. She wasn’t that happy that I didn’t convince you to join GoodSleep. That’s why she let Julian Reed do that to us.”  
“What about Julian Reed being dead?” Namjoon wanted to know.  
“Minji found his dead body in his office. I haven’t heard from her or anyone else from GoodSleep since that.”  
“How is Minji?” Siyeon asked.   
“She’s fine, I guess. They are mostly testing her right now. The stuff you probably do at the sleep labs, “ she nodded at Namjoon.   
“If Julian Reed is dead, then how were we just in his dreams?” Handong said at the same time.   
Bora shrugged. “I don’t know. Maybe it wasn’t his dream.”  
“But it definitely felt like his dream, “ Handong insisted.   
“Then maybe he really did survive. Maybe someone came in right after Minji and was able to bring him back.”  
“Wait. We were in his dreams the whole time we were… in the coma, right?” Namjoon jumped up and started to walk around. “Handong, you said you always felt his energy around us. And you think he was asleep during all that time?”  
Handong nodded. “I think GoodSleep put Julian Reed in some sort of induced coma.”  
“Definitely a thing they would do, “ Bora said. “But I saw Julian Reed at GoodSleep up and awake during that time.”  
“Because he wasn’t always asleep, “ Namjoon said.   
“What do you mean? How would that be possible? How can his dream exist while he is awake?” Siyeon asked.   
“It’s not only his dream.”  
Bora understood straight away what he was suggesting. “You think he is part of a circle.”  
“It would make so much sense. It’s possible for seven trained dreamers to keep a shared dream consistently running forever.”  
“Is it even possible to invite people into shared dreams?” Siyeon asked.   
“If you are an experienced Inviter, yes.”  
“And that dream thing still works when one of the dreamers is dead?”   
“I don’t know for sure, but it could be possible.”  
Siyeon looked upset. “Then it was all for nothing. We should find the other members of this circle.”  
“I won’t let you kill anyone again, “ Namjoon said. “We’ll find another way to stop this.”

***YOOBIN***

That night, Namjoon and Hoseok both promised to try and invite them to their dreams. They didn’t succeed.   
The six of them, again without Minji, were sitting in a conference room, just like in their first dreams with Julian Reed. It looked similar to the one from that dream, but it wasn’t the same. The chairs were different, the color of the walls was brighter and pictures were hanging on the walls.   
“Julian Reed’s circle?” Yoobin asked.   
Handong shook her head. “Someone new.”  
“The boss, “ Bora said. “It’s her dream.”  
“How do you know that?” Siyeon asked.   
“I’ve been here before.”  
Bora’s boss didn’t keep them waiting for long. She was an old woman. Had Yoobin met her on the streets, she would not have suspected that she was the evil force behind a company like GoodSleep. She actually wore a pajama and slippers and looked like she was just about to go to bed. This was not at all what Yoobin had expected.   
“Nice to meet all of you, “ she said and sat down opposite of them. “It’s a pity that Minji can’t be with us, but I am glad everyone else could make it.” It’s not like they had had much of a choice. “I want to talk to all of you separately, though, if you don’t mind.”  
“No, “ Bora said immediately. “We are staying together as a group.”  
“Sua, what are you doing?” the boss asked.   
“Why is she calling you Sua?” Siyeon whispered, but the boss still heard it.   
“This may come as a shock to you, but Kim Bora is my employee. She was responsible to get you here, but she didn’t really do a good job on that, did she?” She laughed. “Now, Siyeon, do you want to be the first to go talk with me?”  
“We are staying together as a group, “ Bora repeated.   
“Sua. They know that you are working for me, you can drop the act.”  
“I am dropping the act. We are a circle and we will stay together.”  
The older woman sighed. “Sua, don’t. I am talking to all of you separately. Lee Yoobin, I will start with you.”  
She snapped with her fingers and everyone else disappeared. Yoobin wished she could do the same.   
“You are nothing more than an Inviter. You wouldn’t be worth any of this trouble if you weren’t part of the circle. So don’t piss me off. You have no value for our company. One mistake and you will end up the same way your BTS friends did.”  
She was looking at her so intensely that Yoobin thought she would kill her right away.   
“Here’s the contract. You better sign it right now, “ the boss said. “No second chances for Inviters.”  
Yoobin wasn’t proud of it, but when a piece of paper and a pen appeared in front of her, she didn’t even hesitate. She was so scared that her hands were shaking when she signed her name on the line.   
“Good girl. Thank you. That was already it. Wasn’t so bad now, was it?” The boss smiled at her.   
“What do I have to do now?” Yoobin asked.   
“Something similar to what Julian Reed’s been doing. If your whole circle signs with me, I will let you work together. I will let you wake up now and I expect you to come to the GoodSleep office right away. You will have to sign a contract in reality. Then you will have a chance to see your friend. After that, your training starts. Sounds good?”  
Yoobin didn’t have the chance to say anything. She woke up. And she did exactly what she had been told to do.

***HANDONG***

It was strange. Handong felt the dream network all around her, she clearly felt the energy of that scary woman she had just met, but she couldn’t push it away. She was just hanging there, not really asleep, but also not awake, waiting to be let inside of the dream again. It was a horrible feeling, but it was probably better than what was expecting her in the dream.   
“The Controller, “ the woman said when Handong was finally in the conference room again. “It’s such an honor to have you here. We can help you find out more about your ability. With our support, you can grow to be an unstoppable force and live a comfortable life with lots of money. Doesn’t that sound nice?”  
Handong shook her head. “I think I can grow to be an unstoppable force by myself, but thanks for the offer.”  
“You work in that Chinese restaurant close to your apartment, right? Or at least, you used to work there. They will have to close their business very soon.”  
This was exactly what Bora had told them about. She did to them what she had did to here. Taking everything away till they had no chance but to sell their souls to her.   
“I’m thinking about going back to China anyway, “ Handong lied. She hadn’t been thinking about that before, but if she didn’t have a job here, she had no reason to stay. In China, she at least had her family to support her and she could still stay in contact with her circle.   
“Do you think it will be better there?” she asked. “Let me be direct. If you go back to your family, our paincatcher will pay special attention to them.”  
Handong cried while signing the contract.

***BORA***

“I knew that this job would be a challenge for you, but I thought you could still succeed. Julian wanted to take over when Kim Namjoon showed up, but I was still convinced that you could do it. I am a bit disappointed, mostly in myself. I should have known that it was too hard for you. You are not suited for undercover work. You will from now on observe the other dreamers working for us.”  
“I will spy on your own people?”  
“It’s easier than what you’ve been doing before. You won’t even have to leave this building anymore. You can get your own personal room. All the dreamers are here, so you can pick up their energies without any problem. You’ll just write reports about whatever you see and spend most of your days sleeping. Doesn’t that sound good?”  
That was the moment Bora decided to do everything she could to get her and her circle out of GoodSleep. She would find a way, no matter what. She owed that to them.   
“It sounds great.”

***THE BOSS***

 “Lee Gahyeon. I heard you are close to Kim Namjoon, right? We should tell me all about him. He caused me a bit of trouble and I am not willing to just let it go. And of course I also want to work with you on improving your ability. Influencing is so interesting.”  
Gahyeon chuckled quietly.   
“What is so funny?” the boss asked. “What do you want to tell me, young girl?”   
Gahyeon laughed again, but she didn’t say anything.   
“Whatever Namjoon is giving you, support with your ability, money or safety. We can offer you all of that. What do you say?” The boss clapped and a piece of paper and a pen appeared in front of Gahyeon.   
Gahyeon kept on laughing.   
“Do you think saying no is an option?”  
The girl in front of her disappeared. That’s when the boss noticed what was up. She should have noticed it right away. She had been tricked.   
Now she really wanted to work with that girl. She was incredibly powerful.

***SIYEON***

“Lee Siyeon. Do you have to say anything to me?” The boss was dangerously grinning at her.   
“I wish I had enough pain to do to you exactly what I did to Julian Reed, “ Siyeon said. Maybe upsetting her wasn’t the best idea, but she didn’t have enough energy to hold back her anger. And it was just the truth.   
The boss was still smiling. “I have to admit, I admire you, Siyeon. What you did to Julian Reed… it was tragic for our company, but it was remarkable.”  
“Thank you. If you want, we can make an appointment and I will do the same for you.”  
“Not necessary, but I want you to work with me. More than half of your circle has already signed the contract. Don’t you want to join them?”  
“No, I don’t. I won’t work for you, “ she said. “You really want me, don’t you? You went through all of this trouble just to get me to work for you. I think I am in the superior position here.”  
“Do you really think so? I have four of your friends. I can do whatever I want with them. Do you really want to be responsible for them dying?”  
“I don’t think you would kill them. You wouldn’t dare to do that. And they are all I have, I have nothing else to lose. What else could you do to me? I am used to pain, so torture won’t work either. That would only be giving me a weapon to use against you.”  
“Maybe you are right. I’ll let you go.” Right before Siyeon woke up, she heard one last sentence. “But I think you forgot that I can do things to your friends that are worse than dying.”


	44. 6/8: DARKENING THE SUN - YOOHYEON

_Yoohyeon was standing in a forest, all alone. The only thing lighting the way in front of her was the weak light of the moon. She stumbled around, seeming completely lost. When she tripped over a stone and fell, she started calling for help. Nothing happened. She just sat there all alone for an eternity and waited._

When Yoohyeon woke up the next morning, she hadn’t talked to the boss at all. She didn’t know what happened, but maybe Handong found a way to use her ability to stop that woman.   
She left her room and went to wake up Yoobin, but her bed was empty. Just as the couch in the living room, usually occupied by Namjoon and Hoseok nowadays. Where were they? Did they all go out together? Why didn’t they wake her up?

DANCING FLAMINGOS

Yoohyeon [06:07 am]: What happened?  
Yoohyeon [06:08 am]: Are you awake? Can we meet up?

YOOBIN

Yoohyeon [06:08 am]: Where r u and the boys?

An hour later, she still hadn’t gotten any response. She was starting to panic. Did the boss do something to her friends?  
She went to Siyeon’s apartment, but she didn’t answer the door. Yoohyeon called her on her phone. No reaction.   
Except for Minji, Yoohyeon had no idea where the rest of the circle lived, so she just kept on calling and texting them. She was close to freaking out, when she got a message from Bora.

DANCING FLAMINGOS

Bora [09:17 am]: Everyone’s @ GoodSleep  
Bora [09:17 am]: They all signed  
Bora [09:18 am]: Why didn’t you sign?  
Yoohyeon [09:20 am]: I had no chance to

They all signed with GoodSleep? If the boss talked everyone into it, why didn’t she even bother having a conversation with her?   
Maybe she had woken up before she had the chance to talk to her. That was possible. Maybe Yoohyeon would be invited to talk that night.   
If that really was the case, then she had about 14 hours left to figure out a way to get her circle out of GoodSleep.   
She just had no idea what to do. She just wandered through the city and waited for sudden inspiration to come to her. What if she just went into GoodSleep and attacked the boss? Even though she couldn’t do Siyeon’s pain thing, she could still hurt people with traditional weapons. Was there a way for her to get her hands on a gun?   
But the chances that they would let her walk into GoodSleep and meet the big boss with a gun were very small.   
She couldn’t do it alone. She would never come up with a way to save her circle.   
Where were Namjoon and Hoseok? They didn’t sign with GoodSleep, did they? Maybe they went out for a little walk. Yoohyeon should go home and wait for them.   
They didn’t come home. Yoohyeon was all alone.

When Yoohyeon woke up the next morning, she was still alone. She had been alone in her dreams as well. The boss hadn’t invited her, no, she had had her own dreams, as confusing as always. Just that there were not people beside her in the dream. It was just her being lost in a lot of unfamiliar places. Nothing that showed her any possible solution for her problem. Just her own loneliness.   
Should she really just go to the GoodSleep building? That sounded really stupid. Her circle wouldn’t want her to just surrender to GoodSleep because she was lonely. And now that she knew that the boss probably wouldn’t invite her to talk at all, for some reason, she had time to think about her next step.   
She went looking for the boys again, but they weren’t at the sleep labs, their own apartment or the room they usually had their meetings at. Yoohyeon couldn’t think of any other places they could possibly go to, so she gave up her search and went back home to sit there and stare at the wall.   
She couldn’t do this alone. She needed someone to help her with this. There had to be a way to find other dreamers out there.   
There wasn’t. Yoohyeon spent hours on the internet, looking for people who might be dreamers, but she couldn’t find anyone. When she went to wander through the city and look at the people there, she felt like she was even less successful.   
She wrote a few vague posts on several dream forums in hope of catching the attention of a dreamer. Then she created a blog and used it to contact other people that seemed to have an intense interest in dreaming. In the evening, she had talked to so many people about their weird sex dreams that she didn’t want to talk to people ever again.   
In her dreams, she was alone again.

A week went by like this, but no matter what Yoohyeon tried, she couldn’t find anyone to help her with the problem. The loneliness was eating at her. She thought about contacting some friends from university, but they wouldn’t be able to help her in any way. There was still no trace of Namjoon and Hoseok and her circle didn’t respond to her texts or calls.   
She felt completely lost.   
But it couldn’t go on like this anymore. No one would come to help her, so she would have to take the matter in her own hands. And the only plan she came up with was storming into GoodSleep and just demanding them to release her circle. That wouldn’t work, but Yoohyeon was close to being desperate enough to try it.   
She was walking through the streets when she spotted the story she first met Minji in. Yoohyeon remembered Minji talking about her boss there, an old woman who always gave weird and unhelpful advice, but sometimes actually inspired good ideas with it. Maybe she could go in and talk to her. Did Minji even have the chance to quit her work here? Or did they just thought she went missing?  
Yoohyeon entered the store and was welcomed by a bell. “I’m coming!” a voice screamed from another room. When the owner of the voice appeared a moment later, Yoohyeon couldn’t help but gasp.   
The old woman in front of her was GoodSleep’s big boss.   
It took the boss a second to recognize her, but when she did, a smile spread on her face. “Kim Yoohyeon! I see you found me. It’s a pleasure to meet you again.”  
Yoohyeon was too taken aback by all of this to respond.   
“You probably want to know what’s going on, don’t you? I can assure you, your friends are all alive.”  
“You are the owner of an esoteric store and the boss of GoodSleep?” Yoohyeon still couldn’t process that.   
“I don’t want to catch unnecessary attention, so I need to have a cover job. This is perfect, because many people come here and talk about their dreams, so it’s a good place to look for costumers. Normally, I wouldn’t do work like that myself, I initially only did it because of Minji. She caught the attention of one of my employees when she started working here and so I wanted to keep an eye on her, “ the boss explained to her.   
Hadn’t Minji been working here for years? Why did the big boss wait so long to make her work for GoodSleep?   
“Do you want to know anything else?” the boss asked.   
“Why did you make everyone sign except for me?”  
The old woman laughed. “You are just an Eye without experience. I have enough Eyes at my company as it is and they are all not very useful.”  
“I’m still part of the circle.”  
“But for how much longer?” She laughed again. “I am working on changing that.”  
She was working on getting Yoohyeon out of the circle? Was that even possible? Could she prevent that somehow?  
“What about the BTS boys?”   
“They went on a vacation. After everything they’ve been through, they definitely deserve it, don’t you think?”   
On a vacation? With every word the boss said, Yoohyeon was more confused. Namjoon and Hoseok would never just go on a vacation while the girls were struggling like that. GoodSleep must have done something to them again.   
“If I can give you some advice, continue your life. Don’t try to help your circle. Just move on. Finish university, find a job, get married, do what you always wanted to do. This is not your problem anymore, “ the boss said. “If you want to interfere… that would only end badly for you and your circle.”  
There was no way that Yoohyeon could just live a normal life after everything that had happened. Not with the knowledge that she didn’t even try to save her circle. She had to do something.   
She just didn’t know what.


	45. 7/8: TAKING OFF A MASK - GAHYEON

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this is the chapter I totally and completely gave up on this fic and rushed it to an end and I'm not happy at all with this chapter or the following ones and I am really sorry for ending it that way but also I think I might not have finished at all otherwise and I wanted to finish it no matter what...

_Gahyeon was standing in front of a mirror. She was crying, as she suddenly tore down her face only to reveal Namjoon’s face behind it. He looked angry, staring at the person in the mirror full of hate. He lifted his fingers and tore down his own face. What lay beneath it was Gahyeon’s face again, smiling brightly._

It was time for Gahyeon to come clean with the whole truth.   
When they had all seen Yoohyeon’s dream, she had thought that maybe the others would get what’s been going on, but fortunately, they didn’t. She knew that they weren’t dumb enough not to get that she was spying on them for Namjoon. But she was still surprised that her plan had even worked after the dream, that the whole Namjoon thing still had distracted them enough so that they didn’t even think about her hiding anything else.   
She had thought that she would have more time, but after Julian Reed’s death, it seemed like a good idea to move along a bit faster.   
She sent Yoohyeon and Siyeon a message in their dreams. A flamingo telling them to come to Siyeon’s apartment today. Hopefully, they would trust the bird or be curios enough to follow its instructions.   
When Gahyeon came to Siyeon’s apartment, Yoohyeon was already there. “We have to talk, “ she said.   
“What the hell is going on? I thought you both were at GoodSleep?” Yoohyeon said.   
Siyeon nodded. “I thought the exact same thing.”  
Gahyeon sighed “Let’s sit down for this.”

When they all were sitting on Siyeon’s couch, Gahyeon let them tell her what happened to them in the last week and during their talk with the boss.   
Siyeon went first. “When I talked to the boss, I refused to sign the contract. I had nothing to lose. She had nothing on me to pressure me into signing. But in the end, she said she would do things worse than dying to my circle. The next day, I wrote a few messages in the group chat, but Bora was the only one to respond. She told me that everyone else had signed the contract. After that, I didn’t hear from her again. I tried calling you all, but my phone didn’t work. I had no reason not to believe Bora. I started to look for ways to get you out of there and I looked for another dreamer friend of mine, but because of my fucking phone I couldn’t reach her. I started having my nightmares again. Now I am charging up on as much pain as possible so that I can really do the same thing to the boss that I did to Julian Reed.”  
Gahyeon wasn’t surprised that that was Siyeon’s plan. It could actually be something Gahyeon could incorporate into her own plan. “GoodSleep manipulated our phones, using Bora to get access to them. That’s why I sent you that message in your dreams. It doesn’t surprise me that Bora told all of us that everyone else signed. They wanted to get us to sign too. They didn’t want us to team up and go against them.”  
“So the flamingo… that was you influencing my dream?” Siyeon asked.   
She nodded.   
Yoohyeon frowned. “The boss doesn’t want me to sign. She didn’t even talk to me in her dreams. I just woke up after we were in that conference room together. And when I met the boss yesterday…”  
“You met the boss?” Gahyeon asked. She didn’t know about that.   
Yoohyeon told them about how she went to Minji’s former work and that her boss there was no one else than her boss at GoodSleep now. She went through her whole conversation with the old woman.   
“I am surprised that she would just let you live on? If you have no use for her, she could also just kill you, “ Gahyeon said. That’s what she would have done in her position. It just didn’t make sense to leave a loose end like Yoohyeon behind.   
“What about you?” Siyeon asked. “How did you get out of signing?”  
“I woke myself up after the conference room thing and influenced her dream. I sent myself into it, but I have absolutely no idea what happened, “ she told them.   
“You can wake yourself up just like that?” Yoohyeon sounded very impressed.   
“We were not really in her dream, so it wasn’t that hard. I’ve also had years of training.”  
“Years of training?” Siyeon repeated. “From Namjoon?”  
“That whole Namjoon thing was nothing more than a distraction.”  
“What?”  
“I was never really on Namjoon’s side. I just acted like it because it was convenient for me. He was easy to manipulate. Just subtly letting him figure out that I was an Influencer and acting like a cute girl that needed money was enough. I also influenced his dreams a bit, just like his circle does when they want something.”  
“On whose side are you if you are not on Namjoon’s side?” Yoohyeon asked. “Where did you learn all that? What do you want?”  
“I am on my own side. There is this organization for dreamers called the Oneiroi. My father is also a dreamer and he took me there since I was young. They had an eye on Namjoon for quite some time and I went there to spy on him, originally. Then he found Siyeon and Minji and I wanted to get into their circle. Mostly because of Minji, but also because of Bora.”  
“I am so confused, “ Yoohyeon said. “What does Bora have to do with that? How did you know about the circle?”  
“Bora and I live in the same building. I always felt her energy. She used to spy on my dreams for some reason.”  
Gahyeon didn’t get into her story more. They didn’t have to know what exactly happened between Oneiroi and Namjoon and Gahyeon’s father.   
“Oneiroi, “ Siyeon said. “If you’re from Oneiroi, why didn’t you recruit us? They could have helped us so much. They could have prevented us from getting invited to Julian Reed’s dreams.”  
“What do you know about Oneiroi?” Gahyeon asked. “I’m not from Oneiroi. I don’t work with them. And I have no intentions on going back to them. When GoodSleep came into the equation, I had to figure out a way to get us out of there. And I think I did. It’s a bit complicated, because we need Handong for it. But I believe that we can do it. We can save our circle.”

***SIYEON***

Siyeon was convinced that they should go ask Oneiroi for help, but for some reason, Gahyeon kept on rejecting that idea. She didn’t really care about Siyeon’s and Yoohyeon’s opinions, she just wanted to use them as tools to get through with her plan, it seemed.   
Which wasn’t as promising as Gahyeon made it out to be. Especially the part involving getting Handong out of GoodSleep. They couldn’t just walk into the building and take her. She wanted to use the fact that GoodSleep really wanted to work with Siyeon and Gahyeon to get them inside of the building, similar to what Siyeon had done when she killed Julian Reed. Then they would need some sort of distraction, which was Siyeon’s job. Just that Gahyeon didn’t tell her how to cause this distraction. Meanwhile, Gahyeon would go and look for Handong.   
“You just walked out unbothered after you killed Julian Reed, right? And Minji said that she saw his dead body later on. So either there are no cameras or nobody cares about them. That’s an advantage for us. We still have to be careful, though, because you never know. Once we have Handong, we will just try to walk out as you did.”  
“What do I do?” Yoohyeon asked.   
“You sleep and look for possible obstacles in your dreams. You could also try to share a dream and contact the ones inside of GoodSleep. I tried, but I couldn’t get through. Maybe you can find a way.”  
Siyeon envied Yoohyeon a bit for getting to stay out of the dangerous stuff. If this wasn’t the only idea they had, Siyeon would stay out of it as well. But she had been sitting around doing nothing for over a week and she couldn’t let her friends be exposed to GoodSleep’s violence any longer without even trying to help them.   
They decided to go through with it two days later, so that Siyeon would have enough time to charge up on pain. When she met with Gahyeon a few blocks away from the GoodSleep building on that day, she was full of pain she had gathered in the hospital and on the streets. She felt a cloud of pain around Gahyeon too.   
“I thought it would be a good idea if I had more pain you could use, “ she explained with a shrug.   
That girl was really something. She must have hurt herself pretty badly to be in so much pain and still, she was standing in front of her smiling like everything was alright.   
“I hope you know what you are about to do because I sure as hell don’t, “ Siyeon said. Where should she even go to cause this distraction? Should she just release the pain and bother random people with it? Should she try to look for the big boss and kill her?  
“Try to knock down security guards. Don’t bother with other dreamers. Use the pain of other paincatcher before they try to take your pain away from you. Just draw as much attention as you possibly can. And then, eventually, release all the pain inside of you and just run.”  
That didn’t sound like a very secure plan, but it was better than nothing.

***HANDONG***

She was barely conscious when she felt Siyeon’s pain filled energy at the edge of her senses.   
She had wondered what had happened to the rest of the circle. Since she entered hell, she had always been able to feel the energies of Bora, Minji and Yoobin, but not of the others. When she had asked her mask torturers or the big boss about it, they had never given her an answer. She had interpreted it as a positive sign. At least three of them were free. But apparently, GoodSleep had gotten to Siyeon. And now that she could feel her pain, Handong wasn’t sure anymore if they hadn’t been torturing like they had done to Handong.   
Handong didn’t understand what exactly happened, but after she had signed the contract in reality, they took her to this room and started to torture her. The big boss had come by a few times, but never talked to her. At night, she was in the dream of Julian Reed’s circle, also being tortured. Handong had thought they would force her to use her ability, but nothing like that had been mentioned yet.   
How much more pain would she have to go through? How much more pain would her circle have to go through?   
She only felt Gahyeon’s energy when she was already standing inside of the small room. “It’s time to go, “ the young one said. “Stand up.”  
Handong couldn’t really process what was going on. When did Gahyeon get here? What was she doing here? Was this even real? Had GoodSleep found a way to mess with her mind?   
Gahyeon grabbed her arm and pulled her out of the bed. “Hurry. We gotta get you out of here.”  
Handong didn’t even make it to the door before collapsing on the floor. Her legs felt so weak. Wait. Did she even have legs? She wasn’t sure about that anymore. What were legs supposed to feel like?   
The next moment she was able to realize anything, Gahyeon was carrying like a bride.   
How was that young girl so strong? And why was she carrying her again? Handong just wanted to sleep.   
Everything happened so fast. One second, she was leaning against the wall of an elevator, next second, she was being carried across the lobby of GoodSleep. There were no people at all. They just walked out of the building unbothered.   
“What…?” she tried to ask, but Gahyeon shushed her.   
“Save your energy.”  
Handong did. It was comfortable here, in Gahyeon’s arms. And she was so exhausted.

***GAHYEON***

She had never seen Yoohyeon as upset as she was in that moment. “You just left Siyeon with GoodSleep?”  
“I had no choice. I couldn’t go back for her, I had to get Handong out of there. She is important for us.” Handong was of great value for them right now. They didn’t necessarily need a paincatcher to get their whole circle out of GoodSleep, but they needed a Controller. And after most of the dream sequences had turned out to be true and Handong controlling the storm was one of them… Gahyeon was just convinced that she was the solution.   
“What exactly will Handong do now? How will her ability help us?”  
“GoodSleep relies on the dream network a lot. Handong can fuck it up. That’s the biggest chance we have, “ Gahyeon explained.   
“How? Do you have a real plan this time?” Yoohyeon asked. “One that will get all of them out of there?”  
She nodded. “You know how we didn’t share dreams over the last week? Handong can use her ability to push through what GoodSleep is doing and get us into the same dream again. Once she has recovered a bit, of course. Then we can communicate with our whole circle. That’s crucial for my plan to work. Plus, it’ll be a great relief if GoodSleep lost the control over their dreams. Less torture. Well, then Handong has to use her ability against the big boss to get herself and the others out of their contracts. I don’t know if it’ll work, but I think there might actually be a way to stop GoodSleep once and for all.”  
Yoohyeon didn’t seem convinced. “Once and for all? And how would Handong do that?” She nodded at the pale girl lying on the bed in the next room.   
“This is just a theory of mine. You know how Yoobin can’t invite you into her dreams, right? That’s something I heard about at Oneiroi. The bound between the two of you, your link on the dream network, it’s blocked. That’s caused by a protections mechanism of your subconscious. You’re an Eye, right? You probably have seen something on the dream network that made your subconscious worry about Yoobin so it blocked the link. That happens a lot to Eyes, mostly with people they see frequently.”  
“And how exactly is that linked to Handong destroying GoodSleep once and for all?” Yoohyeon seemed confused.   
“Namjoon tried to invite Handong into his dreams several times. It didn’t work, which makes me think that either Handong is refusing his invitation all the time or that their link might also be blocked. If Handong has the ability to block links… “  
“Why didn’t she block the link to Julian Reed then? And by the way, I also have to ability to block links. Why can’t I do it?”  
“As I said, just a theory. I’ll talk to Handong about it tomorrow.”


	46. 8/8: CONTROLLING A STORM - HANDONG

_The wind was pulling at Handong’s hair and her red dress. Her eyes were closed, as she moved her fingers a bit. A storm was forming in front of her. She smiled and pushed it away from her. The world went quiet around her again._

Gahyeon looked extremely frustrated. “We have to try again. We have to try harder.”  
Handong shook her head. She was tired of trying to block links on the dream network. That’s all she had been doing for the past three days. If she was lucky, Gahyeon would let her sleep for more than four hours at night. Yoohyeon had retreated completely, but Handong guessed that she was also trying to figure out how to block links. After all, if Gahyeon was right, Yoohyeon had blocked a link before.   
“I am trying all the time. Hell, I am trying all the time. When I’m eating, showering, on the toilet… I’m always trying. I don’t know how I am supposed to try harder. We have to find another way.”  
“Maybe you have to try in that moment between being asleep and awake. Didn’t you say that’s when you’re the most powerful?” Gahyeon asked.   
“I already tried. I just don’t think I can do it.”  
“Try it again. One more time, “ she begged. “Please.”  
“One last try."

She focused on the dream network right before falling asleep. She felt the connection between herself and her circle. The other members were surrounded by the dark pain clouds and what felt like Julian Reed’s circle. She followed the energy to its source, but then she had no idea what to do. She pulled at the energy a bit- and it left her friends and went back to its source. That was a beginning, wasn’t it?  
Following a sudden instinct, she pulled at all of the energies of her circle at once. Then she fell asleep.

***MINJI***

Minji was in so much pain. She didn’t know how long GoodSleep had been torturing her, but it must have been months. Existing alone started to feel incredibly hard. Processing things that were happening around her was even harder.   
That’s why it took her some time to notice that she was not being tortured right now. In fact, she was lying on a cloud, just floating in the sky. And Siyeon was lying right next to her. She was saying something, but Minji couldn’t understand.   
Then her pain suddenly felt lighter. “Better?” Siyeon asked.   
Minji nodded slowly, before sitting up and looking around. “Is this … a shared dream? Of our circle?”  
The other girl pointed at the cloud next to them. And there they were. Yoohyeon was hugging Yoobin and Sua was talking to Handong and Gahyeon.   
“How?” Minji asked.   
“I have no idea. But we’re here now. Together. That’s all that counts.”  
“IS MINJI ALRIGHT?” Yoohyeon suddenly yelled over.   
“I AM, “ Minji answered.   
“THEN JOIN US.”  
Join them? Minji looked at the ten meters separating their little cloud from the big ones, then she looked down. She couldn’t even see the ground from up there.   
Siyeon suddenly jumped up, her face full of excitement. “Don’t worry. We can fly.”  
Fly? Before Minji could really think more about that, Siyeon had already taken her hand and pulled her towards the edge of the cloud.   
“It’s okay. Trust me, “ Siyeon said, before pushing her off the cloud.   
For one moment, Minji was falling. Then, someone was holding onto her. “Act like you’re swimming, “ Siyeon yelled.   
“I can’t swim!”  
“Well… fuck.” Siyeon grabbed her harder. “GUYS, CAN SOMEONE COME HELP ME?”

A minute later, all of them were sitting in a circle on the big cloud. After the traumatizing experience of almost falling down and dying, Minji was basically lying on top of Yoohyeon.   
Gahyeon started to explain what happened. How Siyeon, Yoohyeon and she hadn’t signed the contract. How she used to belong to this dreamer organization and was actually just spying on Namjoon. When she came to the part where she basically exchanged Siyeon against Handong, Minji couldn’t stay quiet anymore.   
“You just left Siyeon behind?”   
“It’s okay, Minji. I’m fine now. Handong is way more useful than I am.”  
“It’s not okay, “ she said. “Your safety is equally important. There had to be a way to get both of you out of there.”  
“There probably would have been a way to get all of us out of there, “ Bora added.   
“Drop it. That doesn’t help us now, “ Handong interrupted their attack on Gahyeon.   
Minji hesitated a moment, but then she decided to change the subject. “How exactly did we end up here, though?”  
“I got you out of that dream and tried to force a shared dream. It obviously worked, “ Handong explained.   
“What’s the plan? Do you have a plan?” Bora asked.   
Gahyeon started talking. “Handong and I tried…”  
Siyeon interrupted her. “Gahyeon. I have no idea what fucking problems you have with Oneiroi, but you contact them. That’s the plan. They will help us get out of the contracts with GoodSleep. And with Minji’s and Handong’s ability, no one will be able to bother us anymore.”  
Minji expected the youngest one to put up a fight, but she just nodded, looking tired and defeated. “I will meet them and take Handong and Yoohyeon with me.”  
“Good.” Siyeon smiled a bit. “Then we might actually be getting out of here.”  
“What about Hoseok and Namjoon? How are they?” Yoobin wanted to know.   
“We don’t know. They disappeared, “ Yoohyeon answered.   
“They went on a vacation, “ Gahyeon corrected. “I might have forced them to go on a vacation so that they would be out of my way, but they are really just hanging out at a beach in Europe somewhere.”  
Gahyeon had forced them to go to Europe? Minji didn’t understand a thing that Gahyeon was doing.   
They spent the rest of the dream cuddling and flying around. Minji just sat on the cloud and watched the others, but it was incredibly wonderful to just see them having fun and laughing. That was the first time she was sure that they would make it through all of this.


	47. Epilogue: Gahyeon

Gahyeon sat beside an unconscious Yoohyeon. “The spider woman must have done something really bad to her. We have to get her back somehow.”  
Nobody cared.   
Handong was teaching Minji and Siyeon Chinese pick-up lines. Right now, they were just laughing about something Minji had said. The fact that Yoohyeon was lying next to them didn’t bother them at all.   
“Look what I can do!” Yoobin yelled at the other end of the room and showed some tricks with a magic cane she had found lying around. “This is so cool! I want a stick like that in real life.”  
Bora, who seemed to be working on some new choreography, stopped for a moment to watch Yoobin. “Let’s use that in the choreo.”  
Gahyeon sighed. That story line with the spider woman had been going on for several dreams now, but the rest of the circle seemed to be bored by now. Gahyeon and Yoohyeon both had found that playing along with the dreams was way more entertaining than doing stuff you might as well do in reality. The others didn’t seem to agree with that.   
“Gahyeon, give up. Yoohyeon will be back eventually, “ Minji said. “Don’t you wanna be able to flirt with Chinese girls?”  
“Yoohyeon probably wants to. So we should get her back now.”  
Handong nodded. “True. Yoohyeon would love this. I’ll teach her some tomorrow.”  
“You’re coming with me to look at the place tomorrow, right?” Minji asked.   
“Of course I am. I have a good feeling about this one.” Handong and Minji had decided to open up a restaurant together and were currently looking for a place. The budget was tight, but that didn’t stop them from being extremely picky.   
“When are you going?” Bora asked.   
“In the morning. You want to come?”  
“I can’t. I’m working with a group tomorrow morning.” Bora had just started working as a choreographer for a big entertainment company. The people from Oneiroi had to use some connections to get her that job, but it had definitely been worth it. Bora had never looked nearly as happy as she did now. She was working day and night and everything she had come up with by now just looked incredibly good.  
“A famous group?” Yoobin wanted to know.   
“Rookies. They are really fucking talented.”  
Oneiroi had gotten them out of GoodSleep in just two weeks. Their legal team hadn’t only found a mistake in the contracts they could use, but some of their dreamers managed to get information they could use to threaten GoodSleep. In the end, the big boss had no other choice than to let them go. Oneiroi was still working on destroying GoodSleep for good and Gahyeon had joined them to help them with that. She wasn’t the only one. Namjoon and Hoseok started to work for Oneiroi as well after their return to Seoul. It would take them time to really take down GoodSleep, but Gahyeon was positive that they would succeed. She was also working on her personal problems with Oneiroi, but the priority was GoodSleep at the moment.   
“Take pictures of the place, okay?” Siyeon said to Minji. “I have class, so I can’t come with you.”  
“Of course.” Minji smiled at her.   
“Yoohyeon’s awake, “ Handong announced. The body next to Gahyeon had indeed disappeared.   
“Oh no, “ Bora said. “I guess that’s the end of this dream.”  
“We should talk to her about it, “ Minji suggested.   
“See you at breakfast, “ Siyeon said with a bright smile. She always said this when she thought the dream was coming to an end. For some reason, the fact that they would see each other in their dreams and right after waking up was still exciting.   
“I never should have moved in with all of you, “ Gahyeon sighed.   
She woke up to the sound of Yoohyeon singing in their kitchen.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> First of all, I want to apologize again for ending the fic like this. It's completely rushed and lazily written and there is no real explanation for what happened and how they solved their problem and just so many questions left out in the open. There are many things I wanted to do with this fic that I didn't do and I will probably regretting ending it like this later, but I'd rather regret that than not ending it all.   
> Secondly, I want to thank every single one who even clicked on this fic, but especially the ones who read it through till the end. I appreciate it a lot! Also special thanks to everyone who commented, that really means a lot to me. (@MY BABE I LOVE YOU THANK YOU FOR ALL YOUR SUPPORT)   
> Btw, my tumblr is @bigblackholeinmyheart and if anyone wants to come and talk to me (about the fic, writing, Dreamcatcher, BTS, literally ANYTHING) i would love that a lot! feel free to message me or send asks or if you have any fic requests, just send them in!   
> Feedback on this fic is also greatly appreciated.


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